Psychological Effects of Covid-19 Quarantine Measures on Mothers in the Positive Period

Abstract

Goal:to investigate whether hospital quarantine measures enhance psycho-emotional distress in the immediate postpartum period for women giving birth in the COVID-19 hot spot.

Methods: We designed a case-control study of mothers who gave birth during the COVID-19 quarantine period from April 3 to June 11, 2020 (COVID-19 study group), with a prior group of comparable postpartum women (control group) who gave birth on the same period in 2019. Participants completed the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPD) on the second day after delivery.

Results: The COVID-19 study group (n = 91) had significantly higher mean ESRD scores compared to the control group (n = 101) (8.5 ± 4.6 vs. 6.34 ± 4.1; P <0.001). In addition, 28.6% of women in the COVID-19 group had an overall ESR score above 12. Analysis of the three ESRD subscales showed significantly higher scores in the COVID-19 group compared to the control group for anhedonia (0.60 ± 0.61 versus 0.19 ± 0.36). P <0.001) and depression (0.58 ± 0.54 versus 0.35 ± 0.45; P = 0.001).

Conclusions: Concerns about the risk of COVID-19 infection, combined with quarantine measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, negatively affected the thoughts and emotions of young mothers, exacerbating depressive symptoms.