History of Pregnancy Loss Increases the Risk of Mental Health Problems in Subsequent Pregnancies but Not in the Postpartum
Open accessAbstract
While grief, emotional distress and other mental health conditions have been associated with pregnancy loss, less is known about the mental health impact of these events during subsequent pregnancies and births. This paper examined the impact of any type of pregnancy loss on mental health in a subsequent pregnancy and postpartum. Data were obtained from a sub-sample (N = 584) of the 1973-78 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, a prospective cohort study that has been collecting data since 1996. Pregnancy loss was defined as miscarriage, termination due to medical reasons, ectopic pregnancy and stillbirth. Mental health outcomes included depression, anxiety, stress or distress, sadness or low mood, excessive worry, lack of enjoyment, and feelings of guilt. Demographic factors and mental health history were controlled for in the analysis. Women with a previous pregnancy loss were more likely to experience sadness or low mood (AOR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.11 to 2.76, p = 0.0162), and excessive worry (AOR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.24 to 3.24, p = 0.0043) during a subsequent pregnancy, but not during the postpartum phase following a subsequent birth. These results indicate that while women who have experienced a pregnancy loss are a more vulnerable population during a subsequent pregnancy, these deficits are not evident in the postpartum.
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Anxiety and depression have been demonstrated in a subsequent pregnancy, with almost twice the odds of experiencing sadness or low mood and excessive worry compared with women without a previous loss.
“Anxiety and depression have also been demonstrated in a subsequent pregnancy, with almost twice the odds of experiencing sadness or low mood and excessive worry, compared with those women without a previous loss.5,6”
From Posttraumatic stress, anxiety and depression following miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy: a multicenter, prospective, cohort study (2020) · cites this paper as [6]
The Results (Table 4) report higher odds of sadness or low mood (adjusted OR 1.75) and excessive worry (adjusted OR 2.01) during a subsequent pregnancy after prior pregnancy loss. But the Results explicitly find no evidence of an association with anxiety or depression, which the citing sentence also attributes to the source. (LLM, conf=0.91)
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Cites
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Bhat, A., & Byatt, N. (2016) · Current Psychiatry Reports · doi:10.1007/s11920-016-0663-8 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Chojenta, C., Harris, S., Reilly, N., Forder, P., Austin, M.-P., & Loxton, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Newcastle Australia (AU)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Chojenta, Catherine
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2014-04-14
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e95038
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3986356
- OpenAlex
- W2060659432
- Cited by
- 81
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 6.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Online (University of Wollongong) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion)
- NOVA (University of Newcastle Australia) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- St John of God Health Care
- Australian Government
- University of Queensland
- Bupa Health Foundation
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare
- Keywords
- miscarriage, subsequent pregnancy, postpartum mental health, depression, anxiety, depressive mood, excessive worry, guilt, stillbirth, ectopic pregnancy, abortion, maternal mental health
- MeSH terms
- Abortion, Spontaneous, Australia, Demography, Emotions, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Mental Health, Pregnancy, Risk Factors, Prevalence, Logistic Models, Women's Health, Postpartum Period
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