Secondary fear of childbirth prolongs the time to subsequent delivery.
OBJECTIVE
Most pregnant women are anxious about the delivery and up to 30% develop varying degrees of fear of childbirth (FOC). Secondary FOC occurs in parous women who have experienced a traumatic delivery. The aim of this study was to investigate the time to subsequent delivery and delivery outcome in women with secondary FOC, compared with a reference group.


METHODS
Southeast Sweden.


METHODS
356 parous pregnant women with secondary FOC and a reference group of 634 parous women without FOC.


METHODS
Descriptive, retrospective case-control study.


METHODS
Time to next pregnancy and delivery outcome.


RESULTS
More women with secondary FOC had a longer interval to subsequent delivery compared with parous women without FOC (p = 0.005). Women with secondary FOC had 5.2 times higher probability of having a cesarean section than the reference group. Women with secondary FOC also had on average a 40-minute longer duration of active labor than women without FOC (p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Secondary fear of childbirth prolongs the time to subsequent delivery and the active phase of labor itself, and increases the risk for cesarean section.
Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. Gunilla.Sydsjo@lio.se
Gunilla
G
Sydsjö
Louise
L
Angerbjörn
Sofie
S
Palmquist
Marie
M
Bladh
Adam
A
Sydsjö
Ann
A
Josefsson
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002585:Cesarean Section / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007751:Labor, Induced / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007743:Labor, Obstetric / Q000523:psychology; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010298:Parity; D036801:Parturition / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000523:psychology; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult