Psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on postpartum mothers

Left: Ms. Yuri Aikawa, Certified Public Psychologist and Midwife
Right: Dr. Youji Takubo, Psychiatrist

The researchers, primarily from the Department of Neuropsychiatry at Toho University Faculty of Medicine and Saiseikai Yokohamashi Tobu Hospital, clarified the mental health changes of postpartum mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the research called “Mental health and Early Intervention in the Community-based Integrated care System: MEICIS” (Principal Investigator: Prof. Takahiro Nemoto). This is a comprehensive research project on policy for persons with mental disabilities funded by the Health Labor Sciences Research Grant (the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The results of this research were published in the international journal “BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth” on December 28, 2021. They have continued to investigate the optimal mental health care systems that respond to the community characteristics in four locations across Japan, through surveys and practical activities.（https://meicis.jp/）

Key Points

The researcher team examined the status of postpartum mental health before and during COVID-19. They compared the scores of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale (MIBS) of one month postpartum mothers who gave birth at Saiseikai Yokohamashi Tobu Hospital.
Psychological anxiety, which represent hypervigilance, increased significantly in the During COVID-19 group. This may indicate their stress due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Based on these findings, it is preferable to establish an optimal community-based mental health care system also using the Web and ICT (Information and Communication Technology).

Outline
Mothers who gave birth at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Saiseikai Yokohamashi Tobu Hospital before and during COVID-19 (April 2017 to December 2020) were required to complete the EPDS and MIBS.
The researchers revealed the EPDS items related to anxiety factors were significantly higher and the EPDS items related to anhedonia and depression factors (excluding thoughts of self-harm) were significantly lower in the During COVID-19 group (Figure 1). These results indicate that pregnant and postpartum mothers during COVID-19 had higher levels of anxiety. Although the scores related depression and anhedonia factors were lower, this does not necessarily imply that the pandemic has had a positive impact. The relative reduction in depression and anhedonia might also reflect the influence of hypervigilance. Based on the results of this study, it is vital to provide care addressing the mental health of pregnant and postpartum women considering COVID-19 pandemic.

Journal Name: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (December 28 issue)
URL: https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com
Title: Psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on one-month postpartum mothers in a metropolitan area of Japan
Authors: Youji Takubo, Naohisa Tsujino*, Yuri Aikawa, Kazuyo Fukiya, Momoko Iwai, Takashi Uchino, Megumu Ito, Yasuo Akiba, Masafumi Mizuno, Takahiro Nemoto （*Corresponding Author）
DOI Number: 10.1186/s12884-021-04331-1

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