Comparing the Prevalence of Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms During Pregnancy

J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv. 2025 Oct 7:1-6. doi: 10.3928/02793695-20250930-03. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To compare the prevalence of anxiety symptoms with that of depressive symptoms among pregnant individuals.

METHOD: In this secondary data analysis, we compared anxiety and depressive symptoms throughout pregnancy using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale among 50 pregnant individuals who were recruited at their initial prenatal appointment. We compared anxiety and depressive symptoms by conducting bivariate analyses.

RESULTS: Anxiety and depressive symptoms were reported by 40% (n = 20) and 28% (n = 14) of pregnant individuals, respectively. One half (50%, n = 10) of pregnant individuals with clinically significant anxiety symptoms did not report depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSION: Depressive symptom screening alone may lead to missed cases of clinically significant anxiety symptoms. Clinical providers need to concurrently screen for anxiety and depressive symptoms during pregnancy based on recently revised policy recommendations. Future research should address barriers to current screening practices.

PMID:41043068 | DOI:10.3928/02793695-20250930-03