{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T00:44:19Z","timestamp":1787013859796,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,27]],"date-time":"2022-06-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1656288000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,10]]},"abstract":"Abstract<\/jats:title>\n \n Introduction<\/jats:title>\n Fear of childbirth is a well\u2010known problem during pregnancy and can have implications for childbirth, including prolonged labor, use of epidural analgesia, obstetric complications, presence of traumatic stress symptoms, or request for an elective cesarean section. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID\u201019) pandemic has affected mental health and therefore could have increased fear of childbirth during the pandemic. The aim of this study was to investigate fear of childbirth during the pandemic in the Netherlands compared with a reference group from before the pandemic.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Material and methods<\/jats:title>\n We conducted a cross\u2010sectional study to evaluate pregnant women during the first and second waves of COVID\u201019 compared with both each other and with pregnant women from before the pandemic. Participants were recruited through social media platforms, hospitals, and midwifery practices. Pregnant women aged \u226518\u2009years who had mastered the Dutch language were eligible to participate. Fear of childbirth was measured with the Wijma Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire online using a cut\u2010off score of \u226585 to indicate clinically relevant fear of childbirth. The primary outcome was the prevalence of fear of childbirth. We undertook additional analyses to specifically look at possible effect modification.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n In total, 1102 pregnant women completed the questionnaire during the first wave of the pandemic, 731 during the second wave, and 364 before the pandemic. Fear of childbirth was present in 10.6%, 11.4%, and 18.4%, respectively. We considered possible effect modification, which indicated that age and parity had a significant influence. In participants during the first wave of COVID\u201019, nulliparous women had significantly lower odds (odds ratio [OR] 0.50; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.34\u20130.73;\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u2009<\u20090.01) of having a fear of childbirth than did the reference group. Both younger participants in the first wave (OR 0.59; 95% CI 0.37\u20130.93;\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u2009<\u20090.05) and older participants in the first wave (OR 0.44; 95% CI 0.28\u20130.71;\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u2009<\u20090.01) and the second wave (OR 0.36; 95% CI 0.21\u20130.62;\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u2009<\u20090.01) of COVID\u201019 had lower odds of fear of childbirth than the reference group.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n Pregnant women during the first and second waves of COVID\u201019 had lower fear of childbirth scores than pregnant women before the pandemic, indicating less fear of childbirth during the pandemic. This could be explained by an increased level of information, more time to consume information, and better work\u2013life balance with more people working at home during the pandemic.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1111\/aogs.14409","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,28]],"date-time":"2022-06-28T02:40:45Z","timestamp":1656384045000},"page":"1129-1134","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Fear of childbirth in pregnancy was not increased during the\n COVID<\/scp>\n \u201019 pandemic in the Netherlands: a cross\u2010sectional study"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"101","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5027-3267","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sanne J. M.","family":"Zilver","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Reproduction & Development research institute Amsterdam the Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9300-426X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yvette M. G. A.","family":"Hendrix","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, OLVG Amsterdam the Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Birit F. P.","family":"Broekman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, OLVG and Amsterdam UMC Amsterdam the Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Robert A.","family":"de Leeuw","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Reproduction & Development research institute Amsterdam the Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christianne J. M.","family":"de Groot","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Reproduction & Development research institute Amsterdam the Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3020-8908","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria G.","family":"van Pampus","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, OLVG Amsterdam the Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_12_2_1","unstructured":"WHO.World Health Organization regional office for Europe[Available from:https:\/\/www.euro.who.int\/en\/health\u2010topics\/health\u2010emergencies\/coronavirus\u2010covid\u201019."},{"key":"e_1_2_12_3_1","unstructured":"RIVM.Reisadviezen en COVID\u201019[Available from:https:\/\/www.rivm.nl\/coronavirus\u2010covid\u201019\/reisadviezen."},{"key":"e_1_2_12_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0020764020915212"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.wombi.2020.07.002"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.midw.2021.103116"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/0167482X.2020.1857360"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/0167482X.2021.1907338"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.wombi.2018.07.004"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12884-018-1659-7"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/aogs.13138"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1471-0528.2012.03433.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1471-0528.12599"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/hsc.13196"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2020.12.101"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598\u2010021\u201092985\u20104"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijnss.2021.09.003"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3109\/01674829809048501"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_19_1","unstructured":"RIVM.Actuele informatie over het coronavirus SARS\u2010cov\u20102[Available from:https:\/\/www.rivm.nl\/coronavirus\u2010covid\u201019\/actueel."},{"key":"e_1_2_12_20_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1034\/j.1600-0412.1998.770512.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_21_1","volume-title":"Statistical Methods for Psychology","author":"DC H","year":"2012"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_22_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/birt.12147"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_23_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S2468-2667(20)30223-1"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_24_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/archdischild-2020-319990"}],"container-title":["Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/aogs.14409","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1111\/aogs.14409","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/aogs.14409","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,12]],"date-time":"2025-03-12T12:13:35Z","timestamp":1741781615000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/aogs.14409"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,27]]},"references-count":23,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,10]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1111\/aogs.14409"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/aogs.14409","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["0001-6349","1600-0412"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0001-6349","type":"print"},{"value":"1600-0412","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,27]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2022-03-11","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2022-05-24","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2022-06-27","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}