Panic Disorder in Pregnancy – Socio-demographic Correlates and Comorbidity with Depression

Abstract

Pregnancy is a time of increased vulnerability to the development of anxiety and depression or of exacerbation of pre-existing psychological distress in women. Sociodemographic factors, severity of anxiety and depression were assessed in 40 pregnant women in outpatient setting during worsening of panic disorder. Most of the patients are with first pregnancy (77.5%), without prior psychiatric history (75%), and 57.5% are in their first three months of pregnancy, while 37.5% have a comorbidity with depression and 20% with agoraphobia. Primiparous women ($$r_s=-0.341$$, $$p=0.016$$), with lower age ($$r_s=-0.537$$, $$p<0.01$$) and lower education ($$r_s=-0.362$$, $$p=0.011$$) report more severe anxiety symptoms, assessed by subjective scale. Higher lunar month is connected with higher scores of depression ($$p=0.002$$). In the first trimester predominantly women with anxiety seek help and if no adequate intervention is made, more severe course of the disease could be developed with comorbidity of depressive symptoms.