Results
Title

Anxiety symptoms and health-related quality of life in mainland Chinese pregnant women: a cross-sectional study.

Authors

Yang, Jing-ping; Qu, Jia; Sun, Ke; Gao, Ling-Ling

Abstract

Health-related quality of life allows the health care professionals to envisage new axes of improvement in antenatal care and is a core aspect of contemporary maternity care provision. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and explore the relationship between anxiety symptoms and health-related quality of life among Chinese pregnant women. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a local teaching hospital in Guangzhou, China between April and June, 2018. Seven hundred and seventy Chinese pregnant women completed the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and socio-demographic questionnaires. 18.2% women were classified as having elevated anxiety symptoms as evidenced by a SAS score ≥50. Compared with women without anxiety symptoms, the pregnant women with anxiety symptoms had worse physical (SF36-PCS) and mental (SF36-MCS) health-related quality of life and a lower level of seven domains of SF-36 (GH, RP, BP, VT, SF, RE and MH). Elevated anxiety symptoms predicted worse physical (SF36-PCS) and mental (SF36-MCS) health-related quality of life. The third trimester predicted a lower level of physical (SF36-PCS) health-related quality of life, while an unsatisfied relationship with mother-in-law predicted a lower level of mental (SF36-MCS) health-related quality of life. The pregnant women with anxiety symptoms had impaired health-related quality of life. Health care professionals should identify pregnant women with anxiety symptoms and facilitate their treatment, which could improve their health-related quality of life.

Subjects

CHINA; ACADEMIC medical centers; CROSS-sectional method; THIRD trimester of pregnancy; PREGNANT women; ANXIETY testing; SELF-report inventories; HEALTH status indicators; HEALTH surveys; COMPARATIVE studies; PSYCHOLOGICAL tests; QUALITY of life; DISEASE prevalence; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; QUESTIONNAIRES; RESEARCH funding; ANXIETY; SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC factors; PREGNANCY

Publication

Journal of Reproductive & Infant Psychology, 2023, Vol 41, Issue 1, p3

ISSN

0264-6838

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.1080/02646838.2021.1952553