• Hai-Xin Bo, Yuan Yang, Jie Chen, Meng Zhang, Yilin Li, Dong-Ying Zhang, Ying Li, Rui Li, Teris Cheung, Chee H Ng, Xin-Juan Wu, and Yu-Tao Xiang.
• From the Department of Nursing (Bo), Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing; Unit of Psychiatry, Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences (Yang, Xiang), University of Macau; Center for Cognition and Brain Sciences (Yang, Xiang), University of Macau, Macao SAR; Department of Psychiatry (Yang), Southern Medical University Nanfang Hospital, Guangdong; Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (Chen, M. Zhang, D.Y. Zhang, Y. Li, Y. Li, R. Li), Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing; School of Nursing (Cheung), Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China; and Department of Psychiatry (Ng), The Melbourne Clinic and St Vincent's Hospital, University of Melbourne, Richmond, Victoria, Australia.
• Psychosom Med. 2021 May 1; 83 (4): 345-350.

ObjectiveAccording to recent studies, the COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with an increased risk of mental health problems across many subpopulations including pregnant and postnatal women. This study examined the prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms (depression hereafter) in Chinese pregnant and postpartum women during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsThis was a multicenter, cross-sectional study comprising 1309 pregnant and postpartum women across 12 provinces in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Depression was assessed using the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire. Univariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted.ResultsThe prevalence of depression in pregnant and postpartum women was 27.43% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 25.01%-29.85%). Women who were worried about themselves or their babies being infected with COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR] = 2.562, 95% CI = 1.670-3.929), and those who had delayed regular medical checkups (OR = 2.434, 95% CI = 1.580-3.750) were at higher risk of depression. Compared with those living in central and western parts of China, women living in northern (OR = 0.513, 95% CI = 0.326-0.807) and southeastern parts of China (OR = 0.626, 95% CI = 0.463-0.846) were less likely to have depression.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic was associated with an increased likelihood of mental health problems among pregnant and postnatal women. Over a quarter of the pregnant and postpartum women in China had depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering the negative health impact of depression, preventive measures, regular mental health screening, and medical checkups are needed with the goal to reduce the risk of depression in this vulnerable population during a pandemic.Copyright © 2020 by the American Psychosomatic Society.

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