ArticleBMC pregnancy and childbirth2026
Depression, anxiety, and stress across the perinatal period: longitudinal trends and associations with adverse outcomes : Article Type: Original Paper.
Article in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDepression, anxiety, and stress are common during the perinatal period and may adversely affect maternal and neonatal outcomes. However, longitudinal data on their trajectories across pregnancy and the postpartum period, as well as their associations with adverse outcomes, remain limited.
aimTo assess the prevalence and longitudinal trends of depression, anxiety, and stress from the first trimester through three months postpartum and to examine their associations with adverse perinatal outcomes, along with sociodemographic and obstetric factors.
methodsThis prospective cohort study included 253 pregnant women followed from early pregnancy to three months postpartum at five time points. Psychological symptoms were assessed using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale–21 (DASS-21). Longitudinal changes were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models. Associations with perinatal outcomes (cesarean delivery, postpartum hemorrhage, gestational diabetes mellitus, gestational hypertension, and selected neonatal outcomes) were examined using univariable and multivariable Firth penalized logistic regression.
resultsThe prevalence of clinically relevant depressive symptoms ranged from 4.5% to 9.9%, anxiety symptoms from 18.2% to 28.3%, and stress symptoms from 12.3% to 20.3% across the study period. Depressive symptoms remained relatively stable across the perinatal period. After correction for multiple testing, only anxiety showed a significant decline after childbirth, while no consistent significant changes were observed for stress. In multivariable analyses, cesarean delivery was associated with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m² and a history of obstetric complications, whereas no significant associations were found for postpartum hemorrhage, small for gestational age, or gestational diabetes.
conclusionsPerinatal psychological symptoms show distinct longitudinal patterns, with a decline in anxiety after childbirth. Most associations with adverse outcomes were not statistically significant or were imprecise. Larger multicenter studies are needed to clarify these relationships.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.