Prevalence of antenatal anxiety in European women: a literature review

Abstract

The presence of anxiety during pregnancy is associated with adverse consequences for both mothers and their babies. The aim of this study was to review the prevalence of anxiety in European pregnant women in order to find out which countries have published the most studies in respect to the presence of anxiety during pregnancy, which countries are the most and least prevalent in terms of anxiety within pregnant women, and which are the most common tools used to assess anxiety during this stage. As such, a literature review was conducted regarding the studies that were published in the last twenty years in the PsycInfo, Medline, and SCOPUS databases. Thirty-eight studies were selected for the purposes of this review. The prevalence of anxiety in pregnancy and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) varies considerably between studies. The European countries that have carried out the most research on this issue are Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The most widely used assessment instrument is the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The lowest prevalence rate of anxiety, using the STAI-E, was found in Poland, 7.7%, and the highest was found in Italy, 36.5%. The prevalence of GAD ranges from 0.3% to 10.8%. This indicates that anxiety in pregnant women is a very relevant mental health problem. It is therefore important to detect and intervene early in order to promote the well-being of both mothers and children.