Mental disorders occurring in pregnancy need attention and specifically targeted treatments; if untreated, they may have severe consequences, for the woman, for her family, and mostly for the newborn. The woman is at higher risk for suicide; she may increase tobacco, alcohol and substances use, and may frequently develop postpartum depression (Halbreich, 2004).

We aimed to describe the prevalence of Axis I disorders (DSM IV-TR criteria) at the 3rd month of pregnancy in a large non-clinical sample of women.

Women between the 12th and the 15th gestational week were enrolled. A total of 1066 subjects (49.9%) of those eligible (N=2138) signed an informed consent and completed the baseline interview. Standard demographic information were collected and Axis I diagnoses were performed using the SCID-I (First et al, 1995).

Mean age was 32.3 years (±3.9); 280 women (26.3%) had a current Axis I Disorder. Mood and anxiety disorders were the most frequent current diagnoses: Major Depressive Episode (N=34;3.2%); Minor Depression (N=45;4.3%); Specific Phobia (N=114; 10.7%); Panic Disorder (N=43; 4%); Social Phobia (N=41; 3.8%); Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (N=17; 1.6%); Anxiety Disorder NOS (N=29; 2.7%); Generalized Anxiety Disorder (N=20; 1.9%). Current comorbidity between depressive and anxiety disorders was present in 38 women (3.6%).

The sample size and the administration of the SCID, that provides more complete and reliable information about lifetime and current psychiatric history, than instruments used in previous similar studies (Andersson et al., 2003; Spitzer et al., 2000), represent major strengths of the study.