Woman’s history of drug use
By Dr.Ali fourkan
Woman’s
history of drug use can help predict risk of postpartum stress and anxiety New
research from North Carolina State University and the University of British
Columbia finds that a woman's lifetime history of drug use can help predict
whether the woman will suffer from problems with stress and anxiety after
childbirth. The finding could help health-care providers screen pregnant women
for mental health problems and provide relevant treatment.
"There's been a lot of
attention recently on the need to incorporate mental health screening into
prenatal care, and it has largely focused on identifying women who are at risk
of postpartum depression," says Sarah Desmarais, an associate professor of
psychology at NC State and co-author of a journal article on the work.
"Our study has two important
findings that are relevant to that discussion," Desmarais says.
"First, we found that women are at risk of significant postpartum mental
health problems other than depression - stress and anxiety are serious issues
that merit attention. Second, by incorporating questions about a woman's
history of drug use, we can help health-care providers more accurately identify
women who are at risk of postpartum stress and anxiety - and take steps to
provide the necessary care."
The study was not designed to focus
specifically on drug use, but was instead aimed at answering the broader
question of whether women's use of alcohol and drugs at any point in their
lifetime predicted mental health challenges after childbirth.
"Historically, a lot of
research focused on women's substance use during pregnancy," Desmarais
says. "We thought that may not be a reliable way of capturing women's
substance use, because women are likely less willing to admit to substance use
during pregnancy - they're concerned about losing parental custody, dealing
with social stigma, or biasing their treatment and care. What's more, pregnancy
is not when women begin using drugs or alcohol; that's something that carries
over from a woman's behavior before pregnancy."
To examine these issues, researchers
used data from interviews with 100 women in British Columbia who had given
birth in the previous three months, were largely from higher socioeconomic
backgrounds and were not considered at high risk of postpartum mental health
problems. The study participants were recruited to join a broad health and
wellness study, which was not specifically focused on substance use.
In those interviews, women were
asked about their history of alcohol use and their history of drug abuse.
"The key finding is that asking
about lifetime drug use really helped us predict whether a woman would
experience postpartum mental health problems," Desmarais says.
"The best predictor of
postpartum mental health problems is still whether a woman has a history of
mental health problems," Desmarais adds. "But when you include a
history of drug use, the likelihood increases significantly."
Specifically, prior drug use was
associated with heightened symptoms of stress and anxiety after childbirth.
Drug use was not associated with postpartum depression, and prior alcohol use
was not associated with any postpartum mental health problems.
The Writer Teacher & Columnist
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