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Prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after Childbirth: A Tunisian Sample

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2023

R. Ben Soussia*
Affiliation:
Psychiatry Department, Tahar Sfar Hospital -Mahdia Tunisia
N. Faouel
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry
W. Bouali
Affiliation:
Psychiatry Department
I. BlHadj
Affiliation:
Tahar Sfar Mahdia Hospital
H. Bouchahda
Affiliation:
Gynecology Department, Tahar Sfar hospital Mahdia, Mahdia, Tunisia
L. Zarrouk
Affiliation:
Psychiatry Department
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Childbirth is a period of transition for women, which can have several physiological and psychological repercussions on their lives.

Objectives

To estimate the prevalence of postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder in a sample group of Tunisian women.

Methods

This is a longitudinal prospective descriptive study carried out among women who were hospitalized for childbirth in the obstetrics gynecology department and those who consulted the outpatient perinatal consultation of the Tahar Sfar Mahdia hospital during a period of 7 months from March 15, 2020 to September 15, 2020. Data collection was based on a pre-established questionnaire determining the different socio-demographic and clinical characteristics.

The women’s psychometric assessment was conducted using a PCLS psychiatric scale for screening for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Results

We collected 120 women with an average age of 28.3 ±5.3 years. Among our sample, two women had a history of depression (1.6%) and three participants had a history of an anxiety disorder (2.5%).Thirty-five patients (29.1%) had a pathological obstetric history. However, fifteen patients (12.5%) were hospitalized during their pregnancies. Eighty-seven patients (72.5%) expressed their anticipated fear of childbirth and one hundred two patients (85%) had a good marital relationship with good social support. 48.3% of deliveries were vaginal and 27.5% were by emergency cesarean section. Level three pain was expressed in 73.3% of deliveries. Psychometric assessment revealed a prevalence of PTSD at 5.8% with PTSD symptomatology in 18.4% of women.

Conclusions

Postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder is a major public health problem that affects the healthy development of the newborn and the mental and physical recovery.

Disclosure of Interest

None Declared

Type
Abstract
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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