Evaluation of toxoplasmosis risk on anxiety and perception of cat owner pregnant women

Abstract

Cats are the main host of Toxoplasma gondii and pregnant women who own cats at home may be at risk. This condition may cause anxiety and stress in pregnant women. The aim of this study is to evaluate toxoplasmosis risk on anxiety and perception of cat owner pregnant women. The study group consisted of 59 pregnant women feeding cats in the home and 369 pregnant women not feeding cats. A Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI-18) was used to measure the anxiety of all participants. Age and anxiety variables were analyzed using a two-sample independent t-test. Gravida, education, and job status were analyzed using chi-square tests, and live to abort ratio & pregnancy number were analyzed using Fisher exact test. Measurement of the anxiety level between the two groups showed that anxiety is significantly higher among the pregnant women who feed cats in their house with an average of 32.03±8.72. The average anxiety level among the pregnant women who don't have cats in their house was 25.94±8.99. The difference between the Health Anxiety Inventory of the two groups was significant (p= 0.0001) It was shown in the literature that pets can reduce anxiety but not studied in pregnant women, yet. Our results showed that pregnant women who own cats at home had more environmental anxiety than women who don’t feed cats at home which is possibly associated with fear of Toxoplasma gondii transmission. This anxiety may also cause unfavorable pregnancy outcomes like eclampsia, preterm birth, low birth weight and high incidence of cesarean delivery.

Does the frequency of ureaplasma increase in human papillomavirus positive women?

“…There are more than 190 types of this virus, which are classified into low-risk and high-risk groups. This infection also affects the quality of women's sexual activities (6)(7)(8).…”