Women’s perinatal depression: anhedonia-related symptoms have increased in the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: The prevalence of perinatal depression increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may be due to changes in the profile of specific depressive symptoms. Aims: To analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the (1) prevalence and severity of specific depressive symptoms; and on the (2) prevalence of clinically significant symptoms of depression during pregnancy and postpartum. Methods: Pregnant and postpartum women recruited before (n = 2395) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (n = 1396) completed a sociodemographic and obstetric questionnaire and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). For each item, scores ≥1 and ≥ 2 were used to calculate the prevalence and severity of depressive symptoms, respectively. Results: The prevalence and severity of symptoms of depression were significantly higher during the COVID-19 pandemic. The prevalence of specific symptoms increased by >30%, namely “being able to laugh and see the funny side of things” (pregnancy 32.6%, postpartum 40.6%), “looking forward with enjoyment to things” (pregnancy 37.2%, postpartum 47.2%); and “feelings of sadness/miserable” or “unhappiness leading to crying” during postpartum (34.2% and 30.2%, respectively). A substantial increase was observed in the severity of specific symptoms related to feelings that “things have been getting on top of me” during pregnancy and the postpartum period (19.4% and 31.6%, respectively); “feeling sad or miserable” during pregnancy (10.8%); and “feeling scared/panicky” during postpartum (21.4%). Conclusion: Special attention should be paid to anhedonia-related symptoms of perinatal depression to ensure that they are adequately managed in present and future situations of crisis.
This study was and supported by the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement, under the Grant No. POCI-01-0145-FEDER- 007653. This research was supported by the FEDER Funds through the Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade (COMPETE) and by National Funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) under the Grant No. PTDC/SAU/SAP/116738/2010. Fundação Bial, under the project with the reference 157/12 and by the FCT– Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the projects PTDC/PSI-PCL/119152/2010, HEI-Lab R&D Unit UIDB/05380/2020, UIDB/04750/2020, and LA/P/0064/2020. It was supported by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). Raquel Costa was supported by the FSE and FCT under the Post-Doctoral Grant SFRH/BPD/117597/2016 [RC]. Tiago Miguel Pinto [TMP] was supported by the FSE and FCT under the individual grant SFRH/BD/115048/2016. Ana Conde was supported a doctoral grant for Science in Measure IV.3 and co-funded under the 2010 Science and Innovation Operational Program (POCI 2010) from Science and Technology Foundation, Government of the Portuguese Republic (Ref. SFRH/BD/13768/2003) [AC].

The work developed by ProChild CoLAB was supported by: (i) NORTE-06-3559-FSE-000044, integrated in the invitation NORTE-59-2018- 41, aiming to hire Highly Qualified Human Resources, co-financed by the Regional Operational Programme of the North 2020, thematic area of Competitiveness and Employment, through the European Social Fund (ESF) and (ii) Mission Interface Program from the Resilience and Recuperation Plan, notice nº 01/C05-i02 /2022, aiming to guarantee public core funding to strengthen the network of interface institutions, as defined in the legal regime in force, approved by Decree-Law no. 63/2019, of May 16th, as well as in its 1st review on 'Technology and Innovation Centres - CTI' and 'Collaborative Laboratories - CoLABs', approved by Decree-Law no. 126-B/2021, of December 31st.

Ana Mesquita is supported from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and from EU through the European Social Fund and from the Human Potential Operational Program - IF/00750/2015.
This article is based upon work from COST Action CA18138 “Research Innovation and Sustainable Pan-European Network in Peripartum Depression Disorder” (Riseup-PPD), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology; https://www.cost.eu/).