Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety, and Perceived Stress in Postpartum Mexican Women during the COVID-19 Lockdown

The COVID-19 lockdown represents a new challenge for mental health researchers and clinical practitioners This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and perceived stress in postpartum Mexican women The study included 293, 4-12-week postpartum women over the age of 18 The Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS), Trait-State Trait Anxiety Inventory (T-STAI), and Ten Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), which are all questionnaires validated for the Mexican population, were applied using a web-based online survey Prevalence and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated The mean +/- standard deviation (SD) of the maternal age was 29 9 +/- 6 3 years;the EPDS score: 11 +/- 6, T-STAI score: 41 7 +/- 12 3, and PSS-10 score: 17 1 +/- 7 The prevalence (95% CI) of the postpartum depression symptoms was 39 2% (34-45%), trait anxiety symptoms were found among 46 1% (32-43%) of the participants, and moderate and high perceived stress were in 58% (52-64) and 10 9% (7 8-15) of the participants, respectively The prevalence of depressive symptoms, generalized anxiety, and perceived stress was higher among postpartum Mexican women during the COVID-19 outbreak than before the lockdown Our findings highlight the importance of monitoring perinatal mental health during pandemics and the need to design effective psychologic interventions for these patients