The prevalence of mental ill-health in women during pregnancy and after childbirth during the Covid-19 pandemic: a Systematic Review and Meta- analysis

The prevalence of mental ill-health in women during pregnancy and after childbirth during the Covid-19 pandemic: a Systematic Review and Meta- analysis | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The prevalence of mental ill-health in women during pregnancy and after childbirth during the Covid-19 pandemic: a Systematic Review and Meta- analysis Gayathri Delanerolle, Mary McCauley, Martin Hirsch, Yutian Zheng, and 8 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-1894395/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 28 Jan, 2023 Read the published version in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth → Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) is a respiratory disease which causes coronavirus and has given rise to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), SARS-CoV in Hong Kong and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). COVID-19, to date, has had the highest morbidity and mortality rates globally, thus reaching the pandemic status. Whilst research has explored the impact of pandemic on general wellbeing, there appears to be a paucity on its association with women’s mental health, with many pregnant women reporting the pandemic negatively impacted their mental health. This study aims to explore the prevalence of the impact of the COVID-19, MERS and SARS pandemics on the mental health of pregnant women. A study protocol was developed and published in PROSPERO (CRD42021235356) to explore several key objectives. A literature search was carried out and identified 316 studies. A meta-analysis was conducted to report the findings. There were no studies reporting the mental health impact due to MERS and SARS. Results showed that women who were pregnant or had just given birth displayed various symptoms of poor mental health including those relating to depression (24.9%), anxiety (32.8%), stress (29.44%), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (27.93%), and sleep disorders (24.38%) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The importance of managing mental health during pregnancy and after-delivery improves the quality of life and wellbeing of mothers hence developing an evidence-based approached as part of pandemic preparedness would improve mental health during challenging times. Covid-19 Mental ill-health Depression Anxiety Stress Pregnancy Antenatal care Wellbeing Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 28 Jan, 2023 Read the published version in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Major revision 21 Oct, 2022 Reviews received at journal 06 Oct, 2022 Reviewers agreed at journal 28 Sep, 2022 Reviewers invited by journal 28 Sep, 2022 Editor assigned by journal 28 Sep, 2022 Editor invited by journal 19 Aug, 2022 Submission checks completed at journal 19 Aug, 2022 First submitted to journal 25 Jul, 2022 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-1894395","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":130047241,"identity":"2aa88c39-a51a-4973-923b-b02551fcbce2","order_by":0,"name":"Gayathri Delanerolle","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Uuniversity of Oxford","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gayathri","middleName":"","lastName":"Delanerolle","suffix":""},{"id":130047242,"identity":"0e6bfd9b-ac96-416a-a286-6d355b250947","order_by":1,"name":"Mary McCauley","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Liverpool Women’s NHS 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