title: Incidence and recurrence of common mental disorders after abortion: Results from a prospective cohort study.
abstract: Research in the field of mental health consequences of abortion is characterized by methodological limitations. We used exact matching on carefully selected confounders in a prospective cohort study of 325 women who had an abortion of an unwanted pregnancy and compared them 1-to-1 to controls who did not have this experience. Outcome measures were incidence and recurrence of common DSM-IV mental disorders (mood, anxiety, substance use disorders, and the aggregate measure 'any mental disorder') as measured with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) version 3.0, in the 2.5-3 years after the abortion. Although non-matched data suggested otherwise, women in the abortion group did not show significantly higher odds for incidence of 'any mental disorder', or mood, anxiety and substance use disorders, compared to matched controls who were similar in background variables but did not have an this experience. Having an abortion did not increase the odds for recurrence of the three disorder categories, but for any mental disorder the higher odds in the abortion group remained significant after matching. It is unlikely that termination of an unwanted pregnancy increases the risk on incidence of common mental disorders in women without a psychiatric history. However, it might increase the risk of recurrence among women with a history of mental disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: j.m.vanditzhuijzen@uu.nl.
authors.forename: Jenneke
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Ditzhuijzen
authors.affiliation: Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction (Trimbos Institute), Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Margreet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ten Have
authors.affiliation: Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction (Trimbos Institute), Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Graaf
authors.affiliation: Department of Methodology and Statistics, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lugtig
authors.affiliation: Department of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Carolus H C J
authors.initials: CHCJ
authors.lastname: van Nijnatten
authors.affiliation: Department of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Wilma A M
authors.initials: WAM
authors.lastname: Vollebergh
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D009426:Netherlands; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011247:Pregnancy; D011275:Pregnancy, Unwanted / Q000523:psychology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012008:Recurrence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Abortion; Coarsened exact matching; Incidence; Mental disorders; Recurrence; Unwanted pregnancy