Prevalence of anxiety among gestational diabetes mellitus patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND A diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM) negatively influences maternal mental health. There is a lack of systematic review and meta-analysis on prevalence of anxiety among GDM women.AIM To pool data from existing literature to determine the pooled estimates for the prevalence of anxiety among women diagnosed with GDM.METHODS We searched multiple databases including MEDLINE, Cinahl, Pub Med and Scopus to identify studies published up to 31 October 2019 with data on the prevalence of anxiety among women diagnosed with GDM. Data were extracted from published reports. Estimates were pooled using random-effects metaanalyses.RESULTS We reviewed 19 abstracts, retrieved 10 articles and included three studiesincorporating 12744 GDM women from three countries. The pooled prevalence of anxiety was 29.5%(95%CI: 6.9, 52.0) among GDM women.CONCLUSION Prevalence of anxiety among GDM women was high. We suggest that epidemiological studies on anxiety should be conducted urgently as it merits clinical attention. In addition, it is important to identify factors associated with anxiety among women diagnosed with GDM.