RT Journal Article
T1 Prevalence of antenatal anxiety in European women: a literature review
A1 Val, Alba
A1 Míguez Varela, María del Carmen
K1 Epidemiology
K1 Prevalence
K1 Pregnancy
K1 Prenatal
K1 Antenatal
K1 Anxiety
K1 Generalized anxiety disorder
K1 Europe
AB 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.
PB MDPI
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/30505
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/30505
LA eng
NO Val, A.; Míguez, M.C. Prevalence of antenatal anxiety in european women: a literature review. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 1098
DS Minerva
RD 28 abr 2026