Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 May 11;10(2):e3993.
doi: 10.17795/ijpbs-3993. eCollection 2016 Jun.

Quality of Life Evaluation in Iranian Postpartum Women With and Without Striae Gravidarum

Masoumeh Kordi  1 , Farzaneh Rashidi Fakari  2 , Seyed Reza Mazloum  3 , Pouran Layegh  4
Affiliations

Quality of Life Evaluation in Iranian Postpartum Women With and Without Striae Gravidarum

Masoumeh Kordi et al. Iran J Psychiatry Behav Sci. .

Abstract

Background: Striae are a common change during pregnancy, leaving striae in various body parts after delivery, which most women find unpleasant. They create a big aesthetic concern for most women. Although striae do not endanger the mother and the fetus, they may cause a desire to scratch the region leading to small wounds, induce stress over beauty, decrease self-confidence, and create psychological disorders. They may try various treatments and often refer to dermatology clinics and receive long-term treatments; these time-consuming and costly behaviors and may affect their quality of life.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life in Iranian postpartum women with and without striae gravidarum.

Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 145 women who had referred to health centers of Mashhad to receive post-delivery health care six weeks after delivery during year 2013. Multi-stage sampling was applied to select the participants. The tools used were demographic, SF-36 quality of life, Skindex29, Atwal and Fitzpatrick classification questionnaires. Data were analyzed using the SPSS V.11.5 software.

Results: The subjects' mean age was 26.3 ± 5.7. Mann-Whitney test showed there was a significant difference between mean of Skindex29 and its dimensions (P < 0.001), general life quality (P < 0.001) in women with and without striae. Mann-Whitney test showed no significant difference between mean general quality of life dimension, except physical function in women with and without striae (P > 0.05).

Conclusions: The results showed that striae lead to reduced quality of general life and reduced skin quality index in women postpartum.

Keywords: Postpartum; Quality of Life; Striae Gravidarum.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Osman H, Rubeiz N, Tamim H, Nassar AH. Risk factors for the development of striae gravidarum. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2007;196(1):62 e1–5. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2006.08.044. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tyler KH. Physiological skin changes during pregnancy. Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2015;58(1):119–24. doi: 10.1097/GRF.0000000000000077. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Salter SA, Kimball AB. Striae gravidarum. Clin Dermatol. 2006;24(2):97–100. doi: 10.1016/j.clindermatol.2005.10.008. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Osman H, Usta IM, Rubeiz N, Abu-Rustum R, Charara I, Nassar AH. Cocoa butter lotion for prevention of striae gravidarum: a double-blind, randomised and placebo-controlled trial. BJOG. 2008;115(9):1138–42. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2008.01796.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Maia M, Marcon CR, Rodrigues SB, Aoki T. [Striae distensae in pregnancy: risk factors in primiparous women]. An Bras Dermatol. 2009;84(6):599–605. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources