Anxiety of mothers of newborns with congenital malformations in the pre- and postnatal periods.

Mothers were recruited by convenience from three hospitals in Fortaleza, so the findings may not apply to other populations or care settings. Anxiety was measured only once, within the first week after birth, so the study cannot show how anxiety changed over time or after discharge. The comparison was cross-sectional, so it cannot prove that the timing of diagnosis caused the anxiety difference. The STAI categories were based on percentile cutoffs, not clinical diagnostic thresholds, so moderate or high anxiety here may not equal a diagnosed disorder. Some diagnosis records were incomplete, so malformation details and timing may have been misclassified.

Do not conclude that delaying the diagnosis until after birth would reduce maternal anxiety. This study compared groups that naturally received the diagnosis at different times, did not test disclosure timing, and found a difference only on trait anxiety, not state anxiety.