Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds, Charles Thackrah Building, 101 Clarendon Road, Leeds, LS2 9LJ, UK.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2013 May;48(5):725-34. doi: 10.1007/s00127-012-0584-8. Epub 2012 Sep 18.
Symptoms of distress during pregnancy are common and often go unnoticed. There is a well-established relation between life events and depression. The current study aims to explore the association between life events and difficulties, and symptoms of emotional and somatic distress during pregnancy in White and South Asian women in the UK.
100 pregnant women attending routine antenatal appointments were interviewed using the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS). We investigated the frequency and type of events experienced in the year prior to conception and during pregnancy, as predictors for somatic and emotional distress, measured using the GHQ-28.
Non-severe stressors accounted for over 90 % of those reported, half of which (43-53 %) were health and reproduction-related. Somatic symptoms were associated with the number of non-severe events, and number of children and emotional symptoms were associated with non-marked difficulties. There was little evidence of an association between severe events and distress. Ethnicity had little effect on any associations although South Asian women were at slightly higher odds of experiencing emotional symptoms, which appear to be buffered by social support.
In routine antenatal care it is important to assess both emotional and somatic symptoms. Health professionals need to be sensitive to the health, social, cultural and environmental circumstances of women during pregnancy and ensure appropriate support is in place, particularly for multi-parous women. Regression models explained a small but significant amount of the variance in distress symptoms. Further work is necessary to explore other contributory factors and also the mechanisms through which stressors have their effect.
怀孕期间的不适症状很常见，且常被忽视。生活事件与抑郁之间存在着既定的关系。本研究旨在探索英国白种人和南亚裔孕妇生活事件与困难以及孕期情绪和躯体不适症状之间的关系。
100 名在常规产前检查中接受访谈的孕妇使用生活事件和困难量表（LEDS）进行访谈。我们调查了在受孕前一年和怀孕期间经历的事件的频率和类型，这些事件是躯体和情绪困扰的预测因子，使用 GHQ-28 进行测量。
非严重压力源占报告的 90%以上，其中一半（43-53%）与健康和生殖相关。躯体症状与非严重事件的数量有关，而儿童的数量和情绪症状与无明显困难有关。严重事件与困扰之间几乎没有关联的证据。种族对任何关联的影响都很小，尽管南亚裔女性出现情绪症状的几率略高，但社会支持似乎对其有所缓冲。
在常规产前保健中，评估情绪和躯体症状很重要。卫生专业人员需要对孕妇的健康、社会、文化和环境状况保持敏感，并确保提供适当的支持，特别是对多胎孕妇。回归模型解释了困扰症状的一小部分但显著的差异。需要进一步研究其他促成因素以及压力源产生影响的机制。
