Objective: to explore the associations between sexual and/or physical abuse in childhood and worries about the baby's health in pregnancy.
Design: cross-sectional questionnaire study. Setting. Norwegian prospective pregnancy cohort.
Sample: an original sample of 58,139 pregnancies (1999-2006) covering about 43% of the pregnant population.
Methods: two self-reported questionnaires in the 17th and 30th week of gestation were merged with data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. Associations between physical and/or sexual childhood abuse and worries about the baby's health were assessed with multiple logistic regression analyses.
Main outcome measures: strong worries about the baby's health in the 30th week of gestation among women with experience of childhood abuse.
Results: women who reported being exposed to physical or sexual childhood abuse or a combination of the two were at increased risk of strong worries about the baby's health compared to women who had not been similarly exposed (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.62, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.26-2.08; adjusted OR = 1.30, 95% CI 1.03-1.64; adjusted OR = 2.10, 95% CI 1.68-2.62, respectively). Marital status, adult abuse, pelvic pain, quality of antenatal care, self-efficacy and previous birth experiences were also associated with concern about the baby's health.
Conclusions: there were significant associations between physical and/or sexual childhood abuse and strong concern about the baby's health. Worries about the baby's health are complex and associated with many elements of risk.