Physical morbidity and psychological and social comorbidities at five stages during pregnancy and after childbirth: a multicountry cross-sectional survey

McCauley, Mary ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1446-0625, White, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5535-8075, Bar-Zeev, Sarah, Godia, Pamela, Mittal, Pratima, Zafar, Shamsa and van den Broek, Nynke ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8523-2684 (2022) 'Physical morbidity and psychological and social comorbidities at five stages during pregnancy and after childbirth: a multicountry cross-sectional survey'. BMJ Open, Vol 12, Issue 4, e050287.

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Abstract

Objective
Maternal morbidity affects millions of women, the burden of which is highest in low resource settings. We sought to explore when this ill-health occurs and is most significant.

Settings
A descriptive observational cross-sectional study at primary and secondary-level healthcare facilities in India, Pakistan, Kenya and Malawi.

Participants
Women attending for routine antenatal care, childbirth or postnatal care at the study healthcare facilities.

Primary and secondary outcomes
Physical morbidity (infectious, medical, obstetrical), psychological and social comorbidity were assessed at five stages: first half of pregnancy (≤20 weeks), second half of pregnancy (>20 weeks), at birth (within 24 hours of childbirth), early postnatal (day 1–7) and late postnatal (week 2–12).

Results
11 454 women were assessed: India (2099), Malawi (2923), Kenya (3145) and Pakistan (3287) with similar numbers assessed at each of the five assessment stages in each country. Infectious morbidity and anaemia are highest in the early postnatal stage (26.1% and 53.6%, respectively). For HIV, malaria and syphilis combined, prevalence was highest in the first half of pregnancy (10.0%). Hypertension, pre-eclampsia and urinary incontinence are most common in the second half of pregnancy (4.6%, 2.1% and 6.6%). Psychological (depression, thoughts of self-harm) and social morbidity (domestic violence, substance misuse) are significant at each stage but most commonly reported in the second half of pregnancy (26.4%, 17.6%, 40.3% and 5.9% respectively). Of all women assessed, maternal morbidity was highest in the second half of pregnancy (81.7%), then the early postnatal stage (80.5%). Across the four countries, maternal morbidity was highest in the second half of pregnancy in Kenya (73.8%) and Malawi (73.8%), and in the early postnatal stage in Pakistan (92.2%) and India (87.5%).

Conclusions
Women have significant maternal morbidity across all stages of the continuum of pregnancy and childbirth, and especially in the second half of pregnancy and after childbirth.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	WA Public Health > WA 30 Socioeconomic factors in public health (General) WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 309 Women's health WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 310 Maternal welfare WQ Obstetrics > Childbirth. Prenatal Care > WQ 175 Prenatal care WQ Obstetrics > Pregnancy > WQ 200 General works WQ Obstetrics > Labor > WQ 300 General works WQ Obstetrics > WQ 500 Postnatal care
Faculty: Department:	Clinical Sciences & International Health > International Public Health Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-050287
Depositing User:	Mary Creegan
Date Deposited:	26 May 2022 13:56
Last Modified:	26 May 2022 13:56
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/20474

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