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Photorealistic scene of a visibly distressed pregnant woman sitting in a doctor's office while a physician writes notes.

Photorealistic scene of a visibly distressed pregnant woman sitting in a doctor's office while a physician writes notes.

During pregnancy, women often experience heightened symptoms of depression and anxiety. The COVID-19 pandemic caused an increase in stress and anxiety for nearly everyone worldwide, but more vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, were especially at risk of suffering the psychological effects. The pandemic resulted in heightened mental health issues for vulnerable groups, such as pregnant and postpartum women, because of the 'physiological and psychological changes' the body undergoes during the stages of pregnancy. Women who were already experiencing an increase in stress, depression, and anxiety due to the changes in hormones that occur during pregnancy, suffered an increase in symptoms associated with mental health issues as the pandemic progressed.[121] COVID-19 increases fear and worries of vulnerability due to the unclear understanding of how COVID-19 impacts pregnancy. A 2020 study in China of 4,124 pregnant women found that after they learned that COVID-19 could be spread from human to human their scores on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale were much higher. They showed increased anxiety levels, depression levels, and suicidal thoughts.[117] A 2020 study in Canada of 1,987 pregnant women showed results that 37% of the women showed depression symptoms, 46.3% showed high anxiety levels, and 67.6% showed an increase in pregnancy-correlated anxiety.[117] Pregnant women that tested positive for COVID-19 faced complications including preterm birth, premature Voir plus