Post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression following miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy: a multi-center, prospective, cohort study
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Early pregnancy losses are common, but their psychological sequalae are often overlooked. Previous studies have established links between miscarriage and early symptoms of anxiety and depression. However, the incidence of post-traumatic stress symptoms, and the psychological response specifically to ectopic pregnancies, has not been investigated.
OBJECTIVES
To investigate levels of post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety in women in the nine months following early pregnancy loss, with focus on miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy. Morbidity at one month was compared to a control group in healthy pregnancy.
STUDY DESIGN
This was a prospective cohort study. Consecutive women were recruited from the early pregnancy and antenatal clinics at three London hospitals, and emailed surveys containing standardised psychological assessments, including the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Post-traumatic stress Diagnostic Scale, one, three and nine months after loss. Controls were assessed after a dating scan. We assessed the proportion of participants meeting screening criteria for post-traumatic stress and moderate/severe anxiety or depression. We used logistic regression to calculate adjusted odds ratios (aOR).
RESULTS
737/1098 (67%) women with early pregnancy loss (including 537 miscarriages and 116 ectopic pregnancies), and 171/187 (91%) controls, agreed to participate. 492 (67%) of those with losses completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale after…
Read the paper
Related studies
- Improving sleep quality leads to better mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
- Community transmission and viral load kinetics of the SARS-CoV-2 delta (B.1.617.2) variant in vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals in the UK: a prospective, longitudinal, cohort study
- Occupation and risk of severe COVID-19: prospective cohort study of 120,075 UK Biobank participants
- Clinical presentation and virological assessment of confirmed human monkeypox virus cases in Spain: a prospective observational cohort study
- Comparison of the characteristics, morbidity, and mortality of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza: a nationwide, population-based retrospective cohort study
- Lifestyle risk factors, inflammatory mechanisms, and COVID-19 hospitalization: A community-based cohort study of 387,109 adults in UK
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.