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Antenatal anxiety symptoms are not only a health problem for the expectant mother. Research has found that maternal anxiety may also have an impact on the developing baby. Therefore, it is important to estimate the prevalence of maternal anxiety and associated factors. The current study aims to estimate the prevalence of anxiety symptoms during the first trimester of pregnancy and to identify associated risk factors. Secondly, to investigate other factors associated with anxiety during early pregnancy including fear of childbirth and a preference for cesarean section. In a population-based community sample of 1,175 pregnant women, 916 women (78 %) were investigated in the first trimester (gestation week 8-12). The Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS-A) was used to measure anxiety symptoms. The prevalence of anxiety symptoms (HADS-A scores ≥8 during pregnancy) was 15.6 % in early pregnancy. Women under 25 years of age were at an increased risk of anxiety symptoms during early pregnancy (OR 2.6, CI 1.7-4.0). Women who reported a language other than Swedish as their native language (OR 4.2, CI 2.7-7.0), reported high school as their highest level of education (OR 1.6, CI 1.1-2.3), were unemployed (OR 3.5, CI 2.1-5.8), used nicotine before pregnancy (OR 1.7, CI 1.1-2.5), and had a self-reported psychiatric history of either depression (OR 3.8, CI 2.6-5.6) or anxiety (OR 5.2, CI 3.5-7.9) before their current pregnancy were all at an increased risk of anxiety symptoms during early pregnancy. Anxiety symptoms during pregnancy increased the rate of fear of birth (OR 3.0, CI 1.9-4.7) and a preference for cesarean section (OR 1.7, CI 1.0-2.8). Caregivers should pay careful attention to history of mental illness to be able to identify women with symptoms of anxiety during early pregnancy. When presenting with symptoms of anxiety, the women might need counseling and or treatment in order to decrease her anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aims of this study were: (i) to investigate stillbirth risk in offspring to foreign-born women by region of birth; (ii) if disparities in risks can be explained by socio-economic factors, pregnancy complications or maternal morbidity; and (iii) if the risk varies by time since immigration. Methods: This was a population-based register study with data from the Swedish Medical Birth Register and socio-economic variables from national income and population registers. We studied single births from 1992 to 2005, and included 219 832 births to foreign-born women and 1 094 146 births to Swedish-born women. Logistic regression analysis was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs), using 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: In all, 4104 antepartal and 255 intrapartal stillbirths occurred. Compared with births to Swedish women, the OR of stillbirth was 2.27 (95% CI 1.84–2.80) for births to women from Africa and 1.41 (95% CI 1.22–1.64) for births to women from Middle East, after adjustment for confounding factors. The risk of stillbirth was higher in immigrants who had been in Sweden for a short time period (<5 years) compared with those who had been in Sweden for a longer period, OR 1.21 (95% CI 1.05–1.40). Conclusions: The risk of stillbirth in immigrant women varies by region of birth and time since immigration, being highest in women from Africa and the Middle East, and the recently settled. Further studies are needed to identify the mechanisms behind these patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]