Psychosocial stress during pregnancy.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to identify factors associated with high antenatal psychosocial stress and describe the course of psychosocial stress during pregnancy.


METHODS
We performed a cross-sectional analysis of data from an ongoing registry. Study participants were 1522 women receiving prenatal care at a university obstetric clinic from January 2004 through March 2008. Multiple logistic regression identified factors associated with high stress as measured by the Prenatal Psychosocial Profile stress scale.


RESULTS
The majority of participants reported antenatal psychosocial stress (78% low-moderate, 6% high). Depression (odds ratios [OR], 9.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 5.5-17.0), panic disorder (OR, 6.8; 95% CI, 2.9-16.2), drug use (OR, 3.8; 95% CI, 1.2-12.5), domestic violence (OR, 3.3; 95% CI, 1.4-8.3), and having > or =2 medical comorbidities (OR, 3.1; 95% CI, 1.8-5.5) were significantly associated with high psychosocial stress. For women who screened twice during pregnancy, mean stress scores declined during pregnancy (14.8 +/- 3.9 vs 14.2 +/- 3.8; P < .001).


CONCLUSIONS
Antenatal psychosocial stress is common, and high levels are associated with maternal factors known to contribute to poor pregnancy outcomes.
Woods
Sarah M
SM
University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, USA.
Melville
Jennifer L
JL
Guo
Yuqing
Y
Fan
Ming-Yu
MY
Gavin
Amelia
A
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000523:psychology*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology