Prevalence and influencing factors of psychosocial stress among pregnant women of first trimester in Hefei city

Objective To explore psychosocial stress and its influencing factors in the pregnant women of first trimester pregnancy.Methods The participants of the study were 3826 pregnant women who took prenatal care in the First People's Hospital of Hefei City from May 2011 through April 2013.All participants were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire survey to collect information on pregnancy related anxiety, depression and life events in the first trimester of pregnancy before 27 weeks of gestation.Results The detection rate of pregnancy-related anxiety, depression and life events were 30.4%, 32.7%, and 9.3%, respectively.The results multivariate logistic regression showed that unplanned pregnancy(odds ratio OR=2.355, 95% confidence interval 95% CI:1.902-2.916) and non-first pregnancy(OR=1.176, 95% CI:1.017-1.361) were the risk factors of pregnancy-related anxiety; the protective factors of pregnancy-related anxiety were aged 25-29 years(OR=0.814, 95% CI:0.675-0.981), aged 30-50 years(OR=0.706, 95% CI:0.553-0.903), and with a monthly familial income of 5000-10000 RMB Yuan(OR=0.833, 95% CI:0.711-0.976).The risk factor of depression was unplanned pregnancy(OR=1.487, 95% CI:1.202-1.841) and the protective factors were with a monthly familial income of 5000-10000 RMB Yuan(OR=0.791, 95% CI:0.679-0.923) and with an education of high school or technical secondary school(OR=0.761, 95%CI:0.599-0.967), with an education junior college(OR=0.729, 95% CI:0.570-0.930), and undergraduate or above(OR=0.917, 95% CI:0.544-0.951).Unplanned pregnancy(OR=2.016, 95% CI:1.464-2.775) was a risk factor of life event stress in the first trimester of pregnancy and the protective factors were with a monthly familial income of 5000-10000 RMB Yuan(OR=0.757, 95% CI:0.588-0.974) and with an education of bachelor degree and above(OR=0.610, 95% CI:0.392-0.949).Conclusion Pregnancy-related anxiety, depression and life event stress are common among the pregnant women in the first trimester of pregnancy and maternal age, education, pregnancy intention, and whether being pregnant for the first time are major influence factors of psychosocial stress.