[Anxiety of Pregnant Women with Prior Miscarriage Before and After Prenatal Diagnosis]

Abstract

Purpose: Aim of the investigation is to assess the anxiety in pregnant women with prior miscarriage and without prior miscarriage before and after prenatal testing for congenital anomalies.

Material and methods: Are sampling is carried of 50 pregnant women with prior miscarriage and 224 pregnant women without prior miscarriage between the 11th and 22th week of gestation who are presenting themselves for the first time for specific prenatal diagnostics. I study state and trait anxiety levels (Spielberger) before and state anxiety after prenatal diagnosis. Data processing and evaluation were carried out with the SPSS Version 18.0.

Results: Prior to the prenatal examination, women with prior miscarriage report more state anxiety symptoms then women without miscarriage (t-test, p-value 0.035), but not more trait anxiety (t-test, p-value 0.794). After prenatal examination no differ in state anxiety scale between pregnant women with prior miscarriage and pregnant women without prior miscarriage (t-test, p-value 0.909).

Conclusion: The study suggests that miscarriages may lead to higher levels of state anxiety before prenatal diagnosis. Gynaecologists and prenatal experts should be pay attention and response the fear actively during prenatal examination and after prenatal examination. Anxiety may have negative consequences for obstetric outcomes, parenting and infant behaviours.