Correlation Between the Third Trimester Maternal Anxiety and Neonatal Pain during Invasive Procedures

Neonatal period is one of the most high-risk stages of human life affected by some factors associated to pre- and post-delivery stages, such as invasive procedures. Anxiety is found to be one of the most common psychological disorders during prenatal period, especially the third trimester. Until now, significant negative consequences of anxiety on newborn’s health are reported. The main objective for the present research was to determine the correlation between the third tri- mester maternal anxiety and neonatal pain during invasive procedures.Methods & Materials: In this longitudinal study, anxiety was measured using self-administered Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) for 75 pregnant mothers referred to hospitals of Bandar-Abbas city, Iran, for routine prenatal care during the third trimester of pregnancy and sub- sequently after delivery. The physiologic and behavioral responses of their newborn to pain during invasive procedures were evaluated using the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale. Data analysis was carried out using IBM-SPSS Statistics and descriptive-analytic statistical tests (Pearson correlation). The findings showed no significant correlation between total average scores of the third trimester maternal anxiety and average scores of newborn pain (P = 0.13). However, there was a significant negative correlation between the mother’s trait anxiety and the newborn’s mean pain score (P = 0.04). Based on our findings, it can be concluded that the anxiety of pregnant women during pregnancy may weaken the newborn’s response to pain. This decreased sensitivity to pain in newborns can be a result of rising of maternal stress hormones in response to chronic stressors, which may have negative effects on development of newborns’ nervous system. Therefore, it is necessary to identify and alleviate pregnant women’s anxiety. In addition, more researches can shed light on this issue.