Psychological stress associated with the COVID‐19 pandemic in postpartum women in Yokohama, Japan

Hiiragi, Kazuya; Obata, Soichiro; Misumi, Toshihiro; Miyagi, Etsuko; Aoki, Shigeru

AIM: This study aimed to clarify how the COVID‐19 pandemic impacts psychological stress levels in postpartum women in Yokohama, Japan. METHODS: We retrospectively compared the rates of positive screening tests for postpartum depression (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale score of 9 or more or self‐injury factors) and liaison/psychiatric intervention rates between pre‐pandemic and pandemic groups of postpartum women who delivered a live birth at our tertiary perinatal center in Yokohama, Japan between January 2019 and May 2020. Those whose postpartum health screening was performed in 2019 (March–June 2019) were considered the pre‐pandemic group, and those whose screening was performed between March and June 2020 were considered the pandemic group. Adjustments were made for maternal background, pregnancy, and delivery outcomes, including a history of psychiatric disorders, complications, preterm delivery, NICU admission, and maternal postpartum complications, and the data were analyzed using a logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Postpartum health screenings were performed on 339 women before the pandemic and 279 women during the pandemic. Positive screening rates for postpartum depression did not change before and during the pandemic (adjusted odds ratio 1.48, 95% confidence interval 0.885–2.46). CONCLUSIONS: There was no apparent increase in maternal psychological stress due to the COVID‐19 pandemic in Yokohama, Japan. Postpartum women responded differently in settings with varied levels of disease severity and social restrictions.