Original Research

Level of awareness and treatment of anxiety and depression during pregnancy in southeast Nigeria

Ezeme M. Sunday, Paul C. Okoli, Vincent O. Dinwoke
South African Journal of Psychiatry | Vol 24 | a1192 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v24i0.1192 | © 2018 Ezeme Mark Sunday, Paul Chibuike Okoli, Vincent Okey Dinwoke | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 27 December 2017 | Published: 08 November 2018

About the author(s)

Ezeme M. Sunday, Department of Psychiatry, Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria
Paul C. Okoli, Department of Psychiatry, Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria
Vincent O. Dinwoke, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Anxiety and depressive disorders are somewhat masked by features of pregnancy; hence many women are ignorant of them and are untreated.

Aim: To determine the level of awareness and treatment of anxiety and depression in pregnancy.

Setting: The study was carried out at the antenatal clinic of Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria.

Method: This was a cross-sectional and descriptive study of 200 pregnant women in consecutive attendance of the antenatal clinic using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and a sociodemographic questionnaire.

Results: Of the participants, 23.5% had anxiety and/or depression, 7.5% of them were aware of their condition and only 0.5% of all the participants or 6.7% of those who were aware of their problem received treatment.

Conclusion: Anxiety and depression are prevalent among pregnant women. Because of overlap of symptoms of anxiety and depression with those of pregnancy, the awareness is very low; hence many of them suffer immensely without treatment.


Keywords

Level Awareness Treatment; Anxiety Depression; Pregnancy

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