Nath, S;
Busuulwa, P;
Ryan, EG;
Challacombe, FL;
Howard, LM;
(2019)
The characteristics and prevalence of phobias in pregnancy.
Midwifery
, 82
, Article 102590. 10.1016/j.midw.2019.102590.
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Abstract
Objective The primary objective was to estimate the population prevalence of specific phobias (including pregnancy related specific phobias) and associated mental disorders. The secondary objective was to investigate the effectiveness of routinely collected screening tools (depression and anxiety screens, Whooley and GAD-2 respectively) in identifying specific phobias. Specific phobias are the most common anxiety disorder to occur during pregnancy, but studies on prevalence and clinical correlates of specific phobias, including pregnancy related specific phobias are lacking. Design Cross-sectional survey using a two-phase sampling design stratified according to being positive or negative on the Whooley questions routinely asked by midwives. Approaching all whooley positive women and drawing a random sample of Whooley negative women. Sampling weights were used to account for the bias induced by the stratified sampling. Participants 545 pregnant women attending their first antenatal appointment. Language interpreters were used where required. Setting Inner-city maternity service, London, UK. Measurements The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Mental Disorders were administered to assess mental disorders and 544 women responded to the anxiety module on specific phobias. Results The maternity population prevalence estimate for specific phobias was 8.4% (95%CI: 5.8–12.1%) and for pregnancy related phobias was 1.5% (95%CI: 0.6–3.7%), most of which were needle phobias. The prevalence estimate of tokophobia was 0.032% (95%CI: 0.0044–0.23%). Over half (52.4%) the women with specific phobias had comorbid mental disorders. Routinely administered screening tools (Whooley and GAD-2) were not helpful in identifying phobias. Key conclusions and implications for practice Phobias in pregnancy are common but pregnancy related phobias are rare, particularly tokophobia. As routinely administered screening tools were not helpful in identifying phobias, other indicators could be considered, such as avoidance of blood tests and requests for caesarean sections.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The characteristics and prevalence of phobias in pregnancy |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.midw.2019.102590 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2019.102590 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Specific phobia ,Anxiety, Pregnancy, Antenatal, Prevalence |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10088135 |
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