Studying the Frequency of Common Complaints during Pregnancy and Effective Factors on its Mitigation at 20 to 24 Weeks Gestation in Mashhad, 2017

Pregnancy, as one of the most sensitive stages of women's lives, is associated with a plethora of physiological and biomechanical changes, which leads to complaints. Any type of planning for the elimination of pregnancy problems requires exact recognition of these problems and their effective factors. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine the common complaints during pregnancy and their effective factors among pregnant mothers at 24-20 week’s gestation in Mashhad, Iran, 2017.

In the cross-sectional descriptive study, 107 primiparous women at 20-24 weeks gestation who presented to comprehensive health care centers in Mashhad were selected through the simple random sampling method and then were assessed. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 20.

About 67% of the participants had common complaints during pregnancy. The first most frequent complaint was exhaustion and fatigue (mean: 2.71±1) and swollen feet had the least frequency rate (mean: 4.11±0.1). Also, in the investigation of the factors affecting the reduction of complaints some factors were more effective (i.e., swollen feet: keeping the legs slightly higher than the body level [33%], leg cramps: daily intake of milk and dairy products [34.9%], heartburn: avoiding empty or full stomach [28.5%], and constipation: consuming plenty of fruits and vegetables [37.3%) and fluids (38.3%]).

Based on trimester, pregnant women have some common complaints due to their individual characteristics. For instance, 67% of the participants complained of unusual fatigue. By providing recommendations and physical exercises effective on reducing complaints, the body of pregnant women can adapt to pregnancy changes, which minimizes the incidence of common complaints.