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Abstract

Background
Women from areas of social deprivation and minority ethnic groups are more likely to experience poor physical health and have higher rates of mental health problems relative to women from less socially disadvantaged groups. However, very little research has examined this in relation to perinatal anxiety. The current study aims to determine prevalence, risk factors and desire for treatment for perinatal anxiety in three regions of the UK with diverse regional characteristics.

Methods
Women completed measures of anxiety in early, mid-, late-pregnancy and postpartum. Participants were included from three regions of the UK: Region 1 = North East England & North Cumbria n = 512; Region 2 = London North Thames n = 665; Region 3 = West Midlands n = 705.

Results
Prevalence of perinatal anxiety was lower in Region 1 (OR 0.63 95% CI 0.45 to 0.89) and Region 2 (OR 0.72 95% CI 0.52 to 0.98) relative to Region 3. Analysis showed the effect of neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation on perinatal anxiety differed by region. In more affluent regions, living in a deprived neighbourhood had a greater impact on perinatal anxiety than living in a deprived neighbourhood in a deprived region. Other factors associated with risk of anxiety in the perinatal period included physical health problems and identifying as being from ‘mixed or multiple’ ethnic groups.

Conclusions
Neighbourhood deprivation relative to regional deprivation is a better predictor of perinatal anxiety than either regional deprivation or neighbourhood deprivation alone. Women of mixed ethnic backgrounds and women with physical health problems may warrant more attention in terms of screening and support for perinatal anxiety. Self-reported desire for treatment was found to be low.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Publisher Keywords:	Perinatal, Anxiety, Pregnancy, Socio-economic factors, Mental health, Ethnicity
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry R Medicine > RG Gynecology and obstetrics
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Midwifery & Radiography
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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