CONTROLLED PROSPECTIVE-STUDY ON THE MENTAL-HEALTH OF WOMEN FOLLOWING PREGNANCY LOSS

Objective: This study investigated the hypothesis that following a pre gnancy loss, women have more health complaints than women who give bir th to a living baby. Method: Mental health was assessed for 2,140 wome n during their first trimester of pregnancy through use of the Dutch v ersion of the SCL-90. A total of 227 women who had lost their babies a nd 213 women who gave birth to a living baby were followed over a peri od of 18 months, during which their mental health was reassessed four times. Results: When mental health complaints at the beginning of preg nancy and reproductive loss history were taken into account, data anal ysis revealed that up to 6 months after their pregnancy loss, women sh owed greater depression, anxiety, and somatization than women who gave birth to living babies. Over time the mental health of women who had experienced a loss was found to improve and at 1 year was comparable t o that of women who gave birth to living babies and to that of women i n general. Conclusions: The majority of women are able to recover from pregnancy loss without psychiatric treatment in about 1 year. A pregn ancy loss is nevertheless a stressful life event that can give rise to a marked deterioration in a woman's mental health, particularly in th e first 6 months following loss.