The following is a summary of “High psychological stress levels related to delivery can increase the occurrence of postpartum mental disorders,” published in the December 2023 issue of Psychiatry by Sun et al.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to investigate the association between high psychological stress during childbirth and the development of postpartum mental disorders.

They included 284 participants (July 2021 and January 2022). The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) assessed the stress level at one month postpartum. Those with an IES-R score ≤ 9 constituted the low psychological stress level group, while those with a score > 9 were in the high psychological stress level group. At 42±7 days postpartum, the mental health of parturients was evaluated using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Union Physio-Psycho-Social Assessment Questionnaire (UPPSAQ-70), Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90), and Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.). The EPDS, UPPSAQ-70, and SCL-90 assessed parturients’ mental health after birth. Semi-structured diagnostic interviews employing the M.I.N.I. were conducted at 42±7 days postpartum.

The results showed a 20.42% incidence rate of postpartum mental disorders (58/284), with rates of postpartum depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder at 17.96% (51/284), 11.97% (34/284), 4.58% (13/284), and 1.41% (4/284), respectively. The comorbidity rate was 58.62% (34/58). Risk factors for postpartum depression included a history of mental disorders and pregnancy complications (P=0.028, P=0.040, respectively); for postpartum anxiety disorders, these were a history of mental disorders, lack of physical exercise, partner violence, and pregnancy complications (P=0.003, P=0.007, P=0.031, P=0.048, respectively). Female infant delivery was a risk factor for postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder (P=0.022). Postpartum women with high psychological stress levels related to delivery had a 9.125 times higher risk of postpartum depression (95% CI= 3.900~21.349, P<0.01), 7.310 times higher risk of anxiety disorders (95% CI=2.588~20.649, P<0.01), and 6.259 times higher risk of obsessive-compulsive disorder (95% CI=1.347~29.093, P<0.01) compared to those with low psychological stress levels.

They concluded that high delivery stress was linked to increased postpartum mental disorders, suggesting wider mental health support is needed.

Source: frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1273647/abstract