Pre-discharge anxiety among mothers of well newborns: prevalence and correlates.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the prevalence and correlates of maternal postpartum anxiety.


METHODS
422 of 973 invited mothers (43%) were screened for anxiety before hospital discharge with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Recent medical and social life events, stress, resiliency (mastery, social support, and marital satisfaction), length of stay, discharge readiness, anticipatory medical care, and history of psychiatric illness and depression were assessed by questionnaire and medical record review.


RESULTS
24.9% of mothers had moderate and 1% severe anxiety. Higher anxiety was observed among young, unmarried, primiparous mothers with male infants, and anxiety correlated with medical and negative social life events, stress, history of depression, and duration of postpartum stay. Inverse correlations were observed with maternal education and household income, pregnancy planning, prenatal class attendance, infant healthcare provider identification, and with all resiliency factors. In multivariate models, pre-discharge anxiety was significantly associated with medical life events and the maternal perception of perinatal stress, and negatively associated with mastery, marital satisfaction, and choice of infant healthcare provider.


CONCLUSIONS
Moderate maternal anxiety is common prior to perinatal hospital discharge, especially among women with low mastery and marital satisfaction, stressful perinatal courses, and failure to identify an infant healthcare provider.
Britton
John R
JR
Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. johnbritton@comcast.net
D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008423:Maternal Age; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D049590:Postpartum Period; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors