Subsequent mental health impaired in women with severe obstetric complications
Source: The Lancet 2007; 370:1329-37
Determining how severe obstetric complications affect health outcomes a year post-partum.
MedWire News: Women who experience severe obstetric complications during birth are at increased risk for adverse mental health outcomes, remark researchers.
Women with severe obstetric complications are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies than women with uncomplicated deliveries, Veronique Filipi (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK) and colleagues found in their study conducted in Burkino Faso.
The researchers surveyed 1014 women on their reproductive and mental health in the first year postpartum. Among the women, 199 had had a livebirth, 64 had a lost pregnancy, 74 experienced perinatal death, while 677 had uncomplicated deliveries.
A total of six women died from severe obstetric complications during the first year of follow-up, compared with none in the uncomplicated childbirth group.
Moreover, women with complicated deliveries were also twice as likely as those with normal births to experience depressive symptoms at 3 months, and suicidal thoughts at 3, 6, and 12 months.
Overall, women with severe obstetric complications reported that pregnancy had a negative impact on their lives.
"Efforts to reduce maternal mortality and improve maternal health could begin by targeting women with severe obstetric complications for social and financial interventions," say V. Filipi et al.
Posted: 13 October 2007
(c) 2007 Current Medicine Group Ltd, a part of Springer Science+Business Media
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