Health services utilization of women following a traumatic birth

E Turkstra; D K Creedy; J Fenwick; A Buist; P A Scuffham; J Gamble

doi:10.1007/s00737-014-0495-7

Health services utilization of women following a traumatic birth

Arch Womens Ment Health. 2015 Dec;18(6):829-32. doi: 10.1007/s00737-014-0495-7. Epub 2015 Jan 11.

Authors

E Turkstra^{1

2}, D K Creedy³, J Fenwick⁴, A Buist⁵, P A Scuffham^{6

7}, J Gamble⁸

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Applied Health Economics, School of Medicine, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. e.turkstra@griffith.edu.au.
² Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. e.turkstra@griffith.edu.au.
³ Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. d.creedy@griffith.edu.au.
⁴ Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University and Gold Coast Hospital, Queensland, Australia. j.fenwick@griffith.edu.au.
⁵ University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. a.buist@unimelb.edu.au.
⁶ Centre for Applied Health Economics, School of Medicine, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. p.scuffham@griffith.edu.au.
⁷ Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. p.scuffham@griffith.edu.au.
⁸ Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. j.gamble@griffith.edu.au.

PMID: 25577338
DOI: 10.1007/s00737-014-0495-7

Abstract

This cohort study compared 262 women with high childbirth distress to 138 non-distressed women. At 12 months, high distress women had lower health-related quality of life compared to non-distressed women (EuroQol five-dimensional (EQ-5D) scale 0.90 vs. 0.93, p = 0.008), more visits to general practitioners (3.5 vs. 2.6, p = 0.002) and utilized more additional services (e.g. maternal health clinics), with no differences for infants. Childbirth distress has lasting adverse health effects for mothers and increases health-care utilization.

Keywords: Childbirth trauma; Distress; Health-care utilization; Health-related quality of life; Mental health.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Delivery, Obstetric / psychology
Depression
Female
Health Status*
Humans
Infant
Mental Disorders / diagnosis
Mental Disorders / psychology*
Mental Health Services
Mothers / psychology*
Parturition / psychology*
Patient Acceptance of Health Care / psychology*
Patient Acceptance of Health Care / statistics & numerical data
Postpartum Period / psychology
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Trimester, Third
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Quality of Life*
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / diagnosis*
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / psychology
Stress, Psychological / psychology