Pregnancy complications often occur in 30% of all pregnancies with the highest complication as low birth weight accounting for 8% of total complications. This is one of the greatest issues besetting mother and child.
A recent study at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health found a pattern that can indicate which pregnant mothers would have complications and if the child would have a low birth weight. The key factor would be mental health issues prior to pregnancy and if the mother experiences such issues, it would have a 40% greater risk to have pregnancy complications and nearly twice the risk in having low birth weight infant. This factor may also lead to having a miscarriage or stillbirth.
According to Dr. Whitney Witt, the lead author of the study and an Assistant Professor at the Department of Population Health Sciences, "We need to be screening and treating women for poor mental health much earlier in their lives, especially before women become pregnant. Timely and effective treatment for mental health problems before pregnancy may help reduce women's risk for pregnancy complications or having a low birth weight baby."
Severe pregnancy complications have effects on both the health of the mother and the infant, aside from short-term risks, there can be long-term complications that may arise. One of the other issues is gestational diabetes, which affects the overall weight of the child of birth (macrosomia) and predisposition to develop diabetes in the child. As for the mother, the susceptibility to develop Type 2 diabetes in later life, especially after menopause, is increased when the pregnancy is marred with gestational diabetes.
The data was collated from 3,373 pregnant women surveyed as part of the 1996-2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to determine the factors that affect negative obstetric outcomes from pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, anemia, low lying placenta, vaginal bleeding or premature labor and the subsequent low birth weight of the child.
There were many notable observations, such as:
1. African American women are 1.35 times more likely than Anglo Americans to experience pregnancy complications;
2. Women from high income families are less likely than women from low income families to experience pregnancy complications;
3. Women who are married or living with a partner have a lower risk of having a miscarriage or have a still birth compared to unmarried women;
These are but some of the observations resulting from the study. Witt added. "Intervening earlier in women's reproductive lives may help ensure that women of any race have an equal chance to deliver a healthy baby."
Bobby Castro is the online editor at the Diabetes Forum, where he has published a number of articles about gestational diabetes and many other topics.
