Prevalence of psychological symptoms in low and high-risk pregnant women: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND

Common psychological disorders during pregnancy can have obvious harmful effects on both mother and fetus.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of psychological symptoms in low and high-risk pregnant women.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 low-risk and high-risk pregnant women in Afzalipour hospital, Kerman, Iran from December 2017-2018. Participants were selected by census method, and the data collection tool was a 90-item questionnaire named Symptom Checklist-90.

RESULTS

The mean age of pregnant women was 29.1 6.8 yr. 7.6% had gestational diabetes mellitus, 5.9% had pregnancy hypertension, 6.6% had a history of in vitro fertilization, and 17.5% had a history of one miscarriage. 61.2 and 65.5% of high-risk women had depression and anxiety, respectively. A significant difference was observed between low-risk and high-risk women in terms of depression (p = 0.019), anxiety (p = 0.049), and aggression (p = 0.013), and the frequency of these variables was higher in high-risk women than in low-risk women.

CONCLUSION

According to age, education, and gestational period, the differences between 2 groups (low-risk and high-risk) were significant. Compared with low-risk women, high-risk pregnant women reported a higher prevalence of psychological symptoms in 10 factors. High-risk pregnant women had a significantly higher prevalence of somatization symptoms, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, hostility symptoms, and paranoid ideation than low-risk women. Therefore, educational programs during pregnancy for high-risk women can be useful.