HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF SEVERE LIFE EVENTS FOR PREGNANCY

Objective - To investigate the relationship between severe life events and disorders in pregnancy. Design - Cohort study of pregnant women w ith and without life events. Setting - Three Scandinavian cities, Upps ala (Sweden), Bergen and Trondheim (Norway). Subjects - 451 parous wom en (para 1 and para 2) attending antenatal care. 107 women did and 344 did not experience severe life events just prior to or during pregnan cy. Main outcome measures - Pregnancy disorders, frequency of sick lea ve and admission to hospital. Results - There were no significant diff erences in pregnancy disorders between pregnant women with and without severe life events. However, women with life events were relatively m ore on sick leave and significantly more often admitted to hospital th an pregnant women without this kind of distress in pregnancy. Conclusi on - Severe life events seem largely unrelated to the incidence of spe cific pregnancy disorders, but seem to have an adverse influence on th e pregnant woman's general health, as indicated by the use of sick lea ve and hospitalization.