Rj. Prettyman et al., A 3-MONTH FOLLOW-UP OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MORBIDITY AFTER EARLY MISCARRIAGE, British Journal of Medical Psychology, 66, 1993, pp. 363-372
The loss of a pregnancy in the first trimester is a common event and r
ecent research has identified high levels of psychological distress am
ongst women who have miscarried. We believe this study is the first to
examine the phenomenon from a longitudinal perspective using standard
ized measures. A sample of 65 women was rated for anxiety and depressi
on using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale at intervals of one
, six and 12 weeks following early miscarriage. The results indicate t
hat a large proportion of the sample had clinically important levels o
f anxiety (41 per cent) and depression (22 per cent) in the first week
following miscarriage, which declined to 32 per cent and 6 per cent r
espectively by the 12th week, No association was observed between leve
ls of psychological morbidity and a number of social and obstetric var
iables, the only exception being whether or not the pregnancy had been
planned. These results are discussed with reference to the relevant l
iterature. The possible implications for further research and clinical
practice are addressed.