title: Relationship satisfaction reduces the risk of maternal infectious diseases in pregnancy: the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aims of this study were to explore the degree to which relationship satisfaction predicts the risk of infectious diseases during pregnancy and to examine whether relationship satisfaction moderates the association between stressful life events and the risk of infections.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective study based on data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Pregnant women (n = 67,244) completed questionnaires concerning relationship satisfaction and nine different categories of infectious diseases as well as socioeconomic characteristics and stressful life events. Associations between the predictor variables and the infectious diseases were assessed by logistic regression analyses. A multiple regression analysis was performed to assess a possible interaction of relationship satisfaction with stressful life events on the risk for infectious diseases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After controlling for marital status, age, education, income, and stressful life events, high levels of relationship satisfaction at week 15 of gestation were found to predict a significantly lower risk for eight categories of infectious diseases at gestational weeks 17-30. No significant interaction effect was found between relationship satisfaction and stressful life events on the risk for infections.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evidence-Based Practice, Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Roger Ekeberg
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Henriksen
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology, Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Torbjørn
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Torsheim
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evidence-Based Practice, Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Frode
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Thuen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult