Fawcett, EJ; Fairbrother, N; Cox, ML; White, IR; Fawcett, JM; (2019) The Prevalence of Anxiety Disorders During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period: A Multivariate Bayesian Meta-Analysis. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry , 80 (4) , Article 18r12527. 10.4088/JCP.18r12527.

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of anxiety disorders in pregnant and postpartum women and identify predictors accounting for variability across estimates. DATA SOURCES: An electronic search of PsycINFO and PubMed was conducted from inception until July 2016, without date or language restrictions, and supplemented by articles referenced in the obtained sources. A Boolean search phrase utilized a combination of keywords related to pregnancy, postpartum, prevalence, and specific anxiety disorders. STUDY SELECTION: Articles reporting the prevalence of 1 or more of 8 common anxiety disorders in pregnant or postpartum women were included. A total of 2,613 records were retrieved, with 26 studies ultimately included. DATA EXTRACTION: Anxiety disorder prevalence and potential predictor variables (eg, parity) were extracted from each study. A Bayesian multivariate modeling approach estimated the prevalence and between-study heterogeneity of each disorder and the prevalence of having 1 or more anxiety disorder. RESULTS: Individual disorder prevalence estimates ranged from 1.1% for posttraumatic stress disorder to 4.8% for specific phobia, with the prevalence of having at least 1 or more anxiety disorder estimated to be 20.7% (95% highest density interval [16.7% to 25.4%]). Substantial between-study heterogeneity was observed, suggesting that "true" prevalence varies broadly across samples. There was evidence of a small (3.1%) tendency for pregnant women to be more susceptible to anxiety disorders than postpartum women. CONCLUSIONS: Peripartum anxiety disorders are more prevalent than previously thought, with 1 in 5 women in a typical sample meeting diagnostic criteria for at least 1 disorder. These findings highlight the need for anxiety screening, education, and referral in obstetrics and gynecology settings.

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