OBJECTIVES: to determine the prevalence and the association between socio-demographic, obstetric and nutritional variables and anxiety symptoms in pregnant women. METHODS: the study involved cohorts with five follow-up stages. A cross-sectional analysis was carried out of 151 pregnant women. The presence or absence of anxiety was treated as the dependent variable, which was measured between 19 and 21 weeks of gestation. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAIT) scale was used to evaluate the anxiety trait. The socio-demographic, obstetric and nutritional data obtained using a questionnaire were treated as independent variables. The statistical analysis was performed using a multivariate Poisson regression with robust variance. RESULTS: the mean age was 25 years and mean level of schooling nine years. The prevalence of anxiety was 64.9% (95%CI: 56.7-72.5). The anxiety trait was associated with age between 18 and 24.9 years (PR=1.35; 95%CI: 1.06-1.71) and 1-8 years of schooling (PR=1.39; 95%CI: 1.11-1.73). CONCLUSIONS: it was observed that the anxiety trait was highly prevalent in this sample of pregnant women whose progress was followed at a health care center. Knowledge of the factors associated with the anxiety is of fundamental importance in allowing the health team to intervene in a timely and appropriate fashion in a pregnant woman's treatment.
Anxiety; Age; Educational status; Pregnancy
