The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused major public panic in China. Pregnant women may be more vulnerable to stress, which may cause them to have psychological problems.

To explore the effects of perceived family support on psychological distress in pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 2232 subjects were recruited from three cities in China. Through the online surveys, information on demographic data and health status during pregnancy were collected. Insomnia severity index, generalized anxiety disorder 7-item scale, patient health questionnaire-9, somatization subscale of the symptom check list 90 scale, and posttraumatic stress disorder checklist were used to assess the psychological distress.

A total of 1015 (45.4%) women reported having at least one psychological distress. The women who reported having inadequate family support were more likely to suffer from multiple psychological distress (≥ 2 psychological distress) than women who received adequate family support. Among the women who reported less family support, 41.8% reported depression, 31.1% reported anxiety, 8.2% reported insomnia, 13.3% reported somatization and 8.9% reported posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which were significantly higher than those who received strong family support. Perceived family support level was negatively correlated with depressive symptoms (r = -0.118, P < 0.001), anxiety symptoms (r = -0.111, P < 0.001), and PTSD symptoms (r = -0.155, P < 0.001).

Family support plays an important part on pregnant women’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Better family support can help improve the mental health of pregnant women.

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global health threat[1] and is listed by World Health Organization (WHO) as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). According to WHO data, there were 72546247 confirmed cases and 1614014 deaths worldwide[2]. In China, there are more than 90000 confirmed cases, with deaths exceeding 4758[2]. Corona viruses mainly cause respiratory diseases, ranging from the common cold to severe respiratory diseases, with a fatality rate of around 1%[3].

The COVID-19 pandemic seriously threatens people’s physical health and can trigger various psychological crises. COVID-19 was associated with increased psychological distress not only in the general population[4], but also in clinical samples[5]. Importantly, women are more vulnerable to psychological distress, when experiencing disasters or traumatic events, compared to men[6]. During the outbreak of COVID-19, approximate 35% of the 52730 people in China experienced psychological distress[7]. Another online survey showed that during the COVID-19 outbreak, among the general Chinese population, 31.3% of participants had depressive symptoms and 36.4% of participants experienced anxiety[8]. In both studies, women showed higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression[7,8]. The impact of the epidemic on women's mental health is significantly higher compared to men[7,8].

As the changes in the level and function of the endocrine system during pregnancy, pregnant women often experience great mood swings and even mental disorders, such as anxiety[9], depression[10]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, pregnant women may suffer extra psychological stress for worrying about the adverse effects on their offspring caused by 2019-nCoV. A recent study reported that after the announcement of the COVID-19 epidemic, the prevalence of depressive symptoms among pregnant women was spiked as to before the announcement[11].

In Wuhan city, a total of 50340 have been confirmed of COVID-19, making it the worst-hit area in China. Wuhan was cordoned off 3 wk after the outbreak. To prevent infection, most all of Wuhan residents had to stay at home and isolated from society. Loss of income was the following stress for them. As a result, most Wuhan residents may not only suffer from the epidemic, but also suffer from isolation, stress and the loss of income[12].

Women who have supportive networks of friends and family may experience less stress and have better mental health conditions. Conversely, poor family relationships and social support might be associated with depressive symptoms[13]. A longitudinal study in pregnancy has found that partnership tension was the only predictor of women’s transient and chronic anxiety during pregnancy or postpartum period[14].The active support of the partner is a critical factor affecting the mental health of pregnant and postpartum women, and the support of the extended family is also important for the mental health conditions of pregnant women[14].

For family-centered Chinese culture, family support is probably the most important sources of social support[15]. Chinese women pay more attention to the family and are more susceptible to family relationships, compared with western women[16]. However, in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, it is unknown whether good family support can still benefit the psychological status of women. Therefore, after the announcement of the coronavirus epidemic in China, we conducted a mental health survey for pregnant women in different provinces of China, including Wuhan (Confirmed COVID-19 case > 60000), Beijing (Confirmed COVID-19 case: 581) and Lanzhou (Confirmed COVID-19 case: 24) in China. In addition, economic loss caused by COVID-19, characteristics related to pregnancy was investigated. The hypothesis of the study is that perceived family support is more important for the mental health of women during pregnancy than the economic loss caused by COVID-19 and the severity of the COVID-19.

To our best knowledge, this is the first study to explore the relationship between perceived family support and psychological distress in pregnant women during major life-threatening public health events. In this study, we had 3 main findings: (1) A significant proportion (45.4%) of pregnant women reported at least one psychological distress during COVID-19 pandemic; (2) The risk of insomnia, anxiety and PTSD in women with less family support was 3.46 times, 1.97 times and 6.69 times higher than that in women with strong perceived family support, respectively; and (3) Depression symptoms (PHQ-9 score), anxiety symptoms (GAD-7 score) and PTSD symptoms (PCL-5 score) were significantly negatively associated with perceived family support.

It is speculated that residents living in Wuhan suffered from higher levels of psychological distress, because this place was most affected by the epidemic[7] in mainland China. This may also increase the risk of psychological distress in pregnant women[11]. Interestingly, our study did not find an increase in the rate of maternal psychological distress amongst women in Wuhan. On the contrary, more women living in Lanzhou reported suffering from psychological distress, though it was only 24 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Lanzhou. That may be due to the fact that more women living in Lanzhou reported insufficient support from family numbers than women living in Beijing and Wuhan. The results showed that depression (35.6%) and anxiety (22.0%) were the most common disorders reported by pregnant women. In addition, at the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the pregnant women also suffered from somatization (8.1%), insomnia (3.4%) and PTSD (2.3%). The findings were similar to those of previous studies, indicating that pregnant women may be more vulnerable to depression in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic. A recent study reported that during the COVID-19 epidemic, the depression rate amongst Chinese pregnant women rose to 29.6%[11]. Another study showed that 28.8% of Danish women had anxiety/depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic[26].

There is extensive evidence that psychological distress during pregnancy are thought to increase the risk of developing psychological dysfunction in the offspring[27]. Pregnancy are very special periods for women. Affected by changes in the level and function of the endocrine system during pregnancy, mothers often experience huge mood swings and even mental disorders, such as anxiety[9], depression[10], and sleep disturbance[28]. The prevalence of depression in pregnant and postpartum women was estimated to be between 7% and 25%[10,26,27], and the prevalence of anxiety disorders is estimated to be between 4% and 39%[29]. However, our results showed that with different levels of family support, there were significant differences in the proportion of women with mental disorders during pregnancy. Women with inadequate family support were more likely to suffer from multiple psychological distresses. The strengthening of family support, the reporting rate of maternal psychological distress reduced. These findings highlight the essential role of adequate family support in mental health of pregnant women through major life-threatening public health events.

Social support, including supports from family members, colleagues, friends, neighbors, professionals, and organizations, is important for maternal mental health[15]. Due to the sudden outbreak, features and clinic symptoms of the COVID-19 are still unclear during the peak of the epidemic. The Chinese government intensified its management of the pandemic through public health interventions, such as strengthening some blockades, demand of staying at home. Hospitals had to terminate health care services for pregnant women to prevent infection, and most of them were trapped at home and isolated themselves from society. The confinement conditions have made the support of family members the only source of social support. In the general population, social support is widely regarded as a key factor in relieving perinatal depression[30]. A large number of studies have confirmed that family support has a positive effect on the level of perceived psychological stress[6,31-33]. According to Cohen[34], the relationship between perceived family support and life satisfaction was very strong.

Perceived family support makes a person feel cared for, loved, and dependent on family numbers when needed[33]. The levels of perceived family support can affect the way people deal with and adapt to stressful events, thereby reducing the negative effects on mental and physical health[6]. Therefore, adequate family support can alleviate the pressure caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. However, although physical care for pregnant women has been greatly improved in China in the past few decades, little attention has been paid to emotional care[15]. The findings of this study emphasized the importance of emotional care for pregnant women. The role and mechanism of family support in alleviating the negative psychological effects of adverse events have not been clearly or fully explained. Further research is needed to understand the role and mechanism of this factor in order to utilize family support to help pregnant women in major life-threatening public health events.

However, several limitations have to be considered when interpreting these findings. Firstly, the data obtained from online surveys and maternal psychological distress relied on self-reported measurements. Women may inaccurately report the presence or absence of psychological distress. Secondly, although internationally valid and reliable questionnaires were utilized in this study, these questionnaires did not provide a diagnosis of mental disorders. Thirdly, the evaluation of family support used the subjective feelings of women rather than the social support rating scale. This may make our results less precise. Fourthly, other influencing factors such as family relationship, family conflict, and family resources are also important variables that affect the psychological well-being of pregnant and postpartum women, which were not taken into account in this study. Finally, a cross-sectional analysis of this study suggests that there is an association between maternal psychological distress and family support, rather than a causal relationship. Future research may focus on a longitudinal study to confirm causality.

The results of this study indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic has a negative impact on the mental health of Chinese pregnant women. Family support was significantly negatively correlated with psychological distress. Compared with women with strong family support, women with insufficient family support were more associated with the risk of anxiety, insomnia, depression and PTSD. This study shows that in major life-threatening public health events, family support has a positive impact on the mental health of pregnant women. However, cross-sectional nature limits the interpretation of the causal relationship between family support and mental health. Further longitudinal studies about the causal relationship between family support and mental health will be an essential area of future research, which may help to identify appropriate and effective interventions for pregnant and postpartum women to prevent from the mental health problems.