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Association of prepregnancy dietary patterns and anxiety symptoms from midpregnancy to early postpartum in a prospective cohort of Brazilian women
In this 2015 prospective cohort study, Vilela et al. examined 207 healthy pregnant women in Brazil to determine if there is a correlation between pre-pregnancy dietary patterns and variations in anxiety symptoms from mid-pregnancy to early postpartum. The women were examined at 5-13, 20-26, and 30-36 gestational weeks, and once at 30-45 days postpartum (tests included State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to evaluate anxiety symptoms and food frequency questionnaire for dietary intake). The subject population could be divided based on their pre-pregnancy dietary patterns: common-Brazilian (mainly rice and beans); healthy (mostly fruits, vegetables, fish and tea); and processed. The mean anxiety symptom scores for the second trimester, third trimester and postpartum were 40.4, 40.5, and 37.2 respectively. When accounting for gestational age, the rate of variation of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory score was 0.535 (95% CI -0.035 to 1.107; P=0.066). Statistically significant evidence was found negatively linking both the common-Brazilian (p=0.021) and healthy eating pattern (p=0.029) with prospective changes in anxiety. The researchers conclude that high adherence to the common-Brazilian or healthy dietary patterns was negatively associated with higher anxiety symptom scores from mid-pregnancy to early postpartum in this group of Brazilian women. [NPID: postpartum mental health, post-partum mental health, postpartum, post-partum, pregnancy, antenatal depression, postnatal depression, nutrients, micronutrients, maternal depression, depression, perinatal anxiety, perinatal depression, anxiety, Brazil]
Year: 2015
