Anxiety during pregnancy among Sudanese pregnant women

Many women suffer psychological symptoms during pregnancy but few studies have examined anxiety among pregnant ladies in relation to the level of education, previous bad obstetrical history and female circumcision. Aims : To determine frequency of anxiety among Sudanese women as related to pregnancy and customs related factors. Methods : 50 pregnant ladies and 50 matched controls were studied at the antenatal clinics of three major hospitals in Khartoum utilizing the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. Data was fed to SPSS and significance was taken at P 0.05. Results : Three of the variables in the study were independently associated with anxiety during pregnancy. These were previous still birth (P 0.0370), female genital mutilation (pharaonic circumcision) (P 0.0070) and the low level of education (P 0.004). Keywords : pregnancy; anxiety Sudan Journal of Medical Science Vol. 1 (2) December 2006: 127-133