Case Control Study
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World J Clin Cases. Jul 6, 2022; 10(19): 6370-6384
Published online Jul 6, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i19.6370
Pregnancy-related psychopathology: A comparison between pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19–related social restriction periods
Daniela Chieffo, Carla Avallone, Annamaria Serio, Georgios Demetrios Kotzalidis, Marta Balocchi, Ilaria De Luca, Daniele Hirsch, Angela Gonsalez del Castillo, Pierluigi Lanzotti, Giuseppe Marano, Lucio Rinaldi, Antonio Lanzone, Eugenio Mercuri, Marianna Mazza, Gabriele Sani
Daniela Chieffo, Annamaria Serio, Marta Balocchi, Service of Clinical Psychology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome 00168, Italy
Carla Avallone, Georgios Demetrios Kotzalidis, Ilaria De Luca, Daniele Hirsch, Angela Gonsalez del Castillo, Pierluigi Lanzotti, Giuseppe Marano, Lucio Rinaldi, Gabriele Sani, Department of Neurosciences, Catholic University of Sacred Heart , Rome 00168, Italy
Antonio Lanzone, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome 00168, Italy
Eugenio Mercuri, Paediatric Neurology Unit, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome 00168, Italy
Marianna Mazza, Department of Geriatrics, Neuroscience and Orthopedics, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 00168, Italy
Author contributions: Chieffo D, Avallone C, Kotzalidis GD, and Mazza M designed the study and wrote the first draft of the manuscript; Serio A, Balocchi M, De Luca I, Hirsch D, Gonsalez del Castillo A, Lanzotti P, Marano G, Rinaldi L, Lanzone A, Mercuri E, and Sani G supervised and added important contributions to the paper; all authors have read and agreed to the final version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study received approval from the local ethics committee (Ethics Committee of the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Rome, Rome, Italy). Patients completed a free and informed consent form and volunteered participated in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No author has any conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Georgios Demetrios Kotzalidis, MD, Senior Researcher, Department of Neurosciences, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome 00168, Italy. giorgio.kotzalidis@uniroma1.it
Received: October 29, 2021
Peer-review started: October 29, 2021
First decision: December 12, 2021
Revised: December 13, 2021
Accepted: May 8, 2022
Article in press: May 8, 2022
Published online: July 6, 2022
Processing time: 238 Days and 0.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on women’s mental health is currently undefined. We assessed anxiety, prenatal depression, and psychopathology in pregnant women by comparing a sample with data collected prior to COVID-19 with one post-COVID-19. The pre-COVID-19 sample scored higher on state anxiety than the post-COVID-19 group; the former reported more partner support, while the latter reported more multiple support. Results show that pregnant women did respond to COVID-19 threat and restriction with increased psychopathology, indicating the recruitment of inner resources, but modified their social support pattern.