Prevalence of anxiety symptoms and associated factors at 2 months postpartum, results from a 2021 French national prospective cohort study

Postpartum anxiety (PPA) symptoms have harmful effects on child development and mother-infant interactions. Accordingly, in-depth knowledge of associated risk factors is crucial for prevention policies. This study aimed to estimate PPA symptom prevalence at 2 months and to identify associated risk factors in a representative sample of all women who gave birth in France in 2021, and in two subgroups: women with no postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms, and those with no history of mental health care. Among the 12,723 women included in the representative French national perinatal survey 2021ENP, 7,133 completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) self-administered questionnaire - including three anxiety-specific items (EPDS-3A) - at 2 months postpartum. We estimated the adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) of PPA symptoms using Poisson regression models with robust variance. PPA symptom prevalence at 2 months was 27.6% (95% CI [26.5-28.8]). Associated risk factors were: age ≤ 34 years (maximum aPR = 1.38 [1.22-1.58] obtained for persons aged 25-29 years vs. 35-39 years), poorer health literacy (1.15 [1.07-1.23]), a history of medical termination of pregnancy (1.32 [1.05-1.68]), psychological (1.31 [1.17-1.47]) or psychiatric (1.42 [1.24-1.63]) care history since adolescence, nulliparity (1.23 [1.12-1.35]), no weight gain or loss (1.29 [1.03-1.61] vs. 9-15 kg gain) or gain ≥23 kg (1.20 [1.00-1.43]) during pregnancy, ≥3 pregnancy-related emergency consultations (1.16 [1.03-1.31] vs. none), poor/good support during pregnancy, (1.16 [1.00-1.34] and 1.15 [1.05-1.26], respectively, vs. very good), sadness (1.52 [1.36-1.69]), anhedonia (1.48 [1.27-1.72]), or both (1.99 [1.79-2.21]) during pregnancy, not at all/not very satisfied with pain management during childbirth (1.16 [1.01-1.32] vs. quite/very satisfied). Similar risk factors were found in the 'no PPD symptoms' and 'no history of mental health care' subgroups. Estimated PPA symptom prevalence at 2 months in our study sample was 27.6%. The risk factors we identified may guide future prevention policies.