PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTIONS AFTER MULTIFETAL PREGNANCY REDUCTION - A 2-YEAR FOLLOW-UP-STUDY

This study had two objectives, Firstly we assessed the effects of mult ifetal pregnancy reduction on the mothers' emotional well-being and th e relationship with the children during the 2 years following interven tion, Secondly at 2 years we compared mothers who had a reduction with mothers who had not and had delivered triplets, The comparisons focus ed on the mothers' health and their relationship with the children, Wo men having had a reduction in two hospitals in Paris, between May 1992 and June 1993, were contacted just after intervention for a prospecti ve study, In all, 18 women were included, At 1 and 2 years, 10 women p articipated, At 2 years, 10 additional women were included, The answer s of these 20 mothers were compared to those of 11 consecutive mothers of 2 year old triplets, assessed by the same psychologist in a previo us prospective study, Semi-structured interviews were conducted at hom e, The mothers' social characteristics, their parity, the children's c ondition at birth and 4 months were very similar between the reduction and triplet groups, One year after birth one-third of the women in th e reduction group reported persistent depressive symptoms related to t he reduction, mainly sadness and guilt, The others made medical and ra tional comments expressing no emotion, At 2 years all but two women se emed to have overcome the emotional pain associated with the reduction , The comparison with mothers of triplets indicated that the mothers' anxiety and depression, and difficult relationship with the children w ere less acute in the reduction group, These results presented some li mitations, since a high number of women who miscarried or refused to p articipate in the follow-up were not assessed at 1 and 2 years, Howeve r, a majority of women who participated in the study 2 years after int ervention seemed able to accept a multifetal pregnancy reduction to ac hieve parental goals.