The present study aimed to clarify the changes in the incidence and frequency of pregnancy-related discomforts in the period from the third-trimester pregnancy to 1 year postpartum, and factors associated with the symptoms.
MethodsThe participants were pregnant women who visited the obstetrics and gynecology outpatient departments of four hospitals for medical examinations or maternity classes in Hiroshima, Japan. A questionnaire survey was administered five times longitudinally: during the pregnancy period, at discharge, and at 1 month, 4 months, and 1 year after childbirth. The contents of the survey consisted of the existence and the frequency of 29 frequently experienced discomforts of pregnancy, type of delivery, feeding condition, childcare burden scale, Japanese version of maternal attachment inventory (MAI-J), and Japanese version of Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS). We performed one-way analysis of variance for analyzing the changes in the number of symptoms from pregnancy to postpartum and chi-square tests for analyzing the prevalence of each symptom. The Pearson product factor correlation coefficient and unpaired t-tests were used for analyzing the relation between the number of symptoms and the factors affecting postpartum health.
ResultsQuestionnaires were distributed to 1566 women in the pregnancy period, and we collected third-trimester data of 681 women and used data of 422 women. Questionnaires were also distributed to the women during the following postpartum periods: time of discharge, 126; 1 month after childbirth, 88; 4 months after childbirth, 79; and 1 year after childbirth, 70. The number of pregnancy-related symptoms were decreased as time passed by (F=130.93, p<0.01). The prevalence of 22 symptoms significantly decreased after childbirth, while the prevalence of three symptoms increased and that of four symptoms remained unaltered. The number of symptoms at the time of discharge and 1 month after childbirth were significant correlated with the EPDS score (r=0.39-0.58, p<0.01) and the childcare burden scale (r=0.30-0.44, p<0.05) from 1 month to 1 year after childbirth.
ConclusionThe findings of this study confirm that some pregnancy-related discomforts continue to postpartum and that the number of symptoms in postpartum is associated with postpartum depression and the stress of postnatal care. We thus showed the importance of maternal care during pregnancy as it affects childcare later on. Childcare starts from pregnancy. Thus, a smooth transition to childcare is possible only if pregnancy-related discomforts such as "minor troubles" are not taken lightly, as women require all the physical, mental, and emotional care right from the beginning of pregnancy to be strong and healthy in all aspects of the postnatal phase.
