Anxiety and Depression of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Mothers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: To determine the prevalence of anxiety and depression of the mothers whose babies were admitted to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for any reason other than COVID-19 during the pandemic, and the effect of duration of NICU stay on mothers' anxiety and depression.
Materials and Methods: The NICU mothers were divided into three groups according to duration of hospitalization of their babies. The duration of hospitalization of the babies was < 7 days for the first group of the mothers (G1), ≥ 7- <14 days for the second group (G2), and ≥ 14- < 30 days for the third group (G3). The anxiety level of the mothers was assessed with "State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)", and a cut-off score above 40 was used to define probable clinical levels of anxiety. Depression was evaluated with “Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS)”, and a cut-off score above 12 was considered as probable risk for presence of postpartum depression.
Results: Among 150 mothers (in each group n=50), the STAI-State scores of all mothers were > 40, indicating clinical levels of anxiety. Seventy three (48.7%) of the mothers had a EPDS score > 12. The STAI-State scores of the mothers in G3 were higher than the mothers in G2 (p=0.029). Depression scores did not differ between the three groups.
Conclusions: All the NICU mothers were found to be anxious and nearly half of them were depressive. Mean state anxiety levels were higher in mothers of babies who stayed longer in NICU.