The Prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Following Childbirth and its Predictors in Iranian Women

The present study aimed at evaluating the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following childbirth and its sociodemographic and obstetrics predictors.

The current cross sectional study was conducted from April to November 2017 by the random sampling method on 365 women aged 18 - 35 years whose last childbirth occurred within 38 - 42 weeks of gestation and gave birth 10 - 16 weeks before the initiation of the study, in Baneh City, Kurdistan Province, Iran. The research tools included a sociodemographic and obstetrics characteristics questionnaire and a checklist of PTSD for DSM-IV. For data analysis, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and multiple linear regression with backward stepwise selection were employed.

The prevalence of PTSD following childbirth was 47.7%. Themean±standard deviation of PTSD following childbirth was 13.6 ±10.9, out of the attainable score of 0 - 51. The variables, including income status, number of children, desired route of delivery, and the type of recent delivery, were identified as predictors and accounted for 34% of the variance of PTSD adjusted for other variables.

Considering the high prevalence of PTSD following childbirth, to improve the childbirth experience, well-adjusted interventions should be planned to prevent PTSD after delivery