Pregnancy during the pandemic: The psychological impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women in Greece

INTRODUCTION The COVID-19 outbreak has affected the overall health of people worldwide. Historically, pandemics pose a challenge to psychological resilience, causing heightened stress levels. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological state of pregnant women in Greece. METHODS A survey study was conducted on a sample of 149 pregnant women in late 2020, including the `fear of COVID-19' scale, a self-report instrument that assess fear of COVID-19 among the general population and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) scale which measures state and trait anxiety. RESULTS Pregnant women with a mental health history tended to score higher on the `fear of COVID-19' scale (mean +/- SD: 19.48 +/- 4.35) compared to pregnant women who had never had mental health problems before (17.12 +/- 5.27). Moreover, pregnant women with anxiety as part of their personality tended to also score higher on the `fear of COVID-19' scale. In all, 48.3% of pregnant women reported that their psychological state had been severely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. CONCLUSIONS Pregnant women were highly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. A significantly increased `fear of COVID-19' scale score was associated with self- reported pre-existence mental health conditions. Pregnant women with higher levels of `trait anxiety' tended to report higher scores on the `fear of COVID-19' scale.