Emotional distress and its correlates among Nigerian women in late pregnancy

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was carried out in a Teaching Hospital to compare women in late pregnancy and matched controls for emotional distress. Each of the 156 pregnant women was matched with a control and studied to determine the relationship of some obstetric and sociodemographic factors with anxiety and depression. All the subjects were evaluated using the state form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-state) and the Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), which are standardised instruments for assessing depression and anxiety, respectively. The pregnant women had significantly higher levels of anxiety and higher levels of depression than their non-pregnant controls. Four of the factors evaluated (age, level of education, socio-economic status and parity) were not found to be significantly related to anxiety or depression among the pregnant women. However, four other factors, i.e. polygamy, previous abortions, mode of previous delivery (caesarean section and instrumentally-assisted delivery) and previous puerperal complications had positive and significant associations with anxiety and depression. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Prevalence and determinants of common perinatal mental disorders in women in low- and lower-middle-income countries: a systematic review

“…Such difficulties included having a partner who rejected paternity, who was unsupportive and uninvolved, or critical and quarrelsome, and who used alcohol to excess. 8,27,28,31,38,39,45,48 Higher average symptom scores among women in polygamous rather than monogamous marriages were found in Nigeria 53 and Nepal, 31 but not in Ethiopia. 30 Only seven 24,25,28,[30][31][32]40 studies investigated an association with intimate partner violence.…”

“…Most of the articles containing such data (9/13, 69%) were published after 2002. Patel et al, 40 Husain et al 32 and Liabsuetrakul et al 52 generated evidence about risks, including the risk of antenatal depression for postnatal depression, and Fatoye et al 53 compared symptoms in pregnant and non-pregnant women. None of these studies reported on the prevalence of common mental disorders during pregnancy.…”

“…For example, some studies excluded women who were illiterate 34 or unable to speak the researchers' language 11,12,14,20,40,41,46,[52][53][54] or who had a personal or family history of psychiatric problems. 15,21,22,26,41,49,52,55 Such studies may have underestimated prevalence.…”

“…8,9,11,13,23,30,[37][38][39][40]49,53 A higher risk was associated with adverse reproductive events including unwanted or unintended pregnancy, past pregnancy losses, coincidental illness and operative birth. However, other studies found no significant association between CPMDs and unwanted pregnancy, 16,28 gravidity, 22,36,48 parity 13,16,20,22,34,37,47,57 prior stillbirth, 18,20,34,39 coincidental medical problems 48 or caesarean birth.…”

The Problem with Polygamy

“…Other studies show that these women also enjoy less marital satisfaction and more problematic mother-child relationships (Al-Krenawi and SlonimNevo 2008). In addition, further studies demonstrate that women in polygamous marriages are especially vulnerable to depression after becoming pregnant, as their husbands become more likely to turn their attention to their other wives (Fatoye et al 2004;Ho-Yen et al 2007). Women in polygamous marriages are typically subservient to their husbands who hold their wives primarily responsible for childbearing (Gher 2008, 584).…”