Poor mental health linked to increased risk of preterm birth

Women experiencing poor mental health may be at a 50 per cent greater risk of giving birth preterm, researchers have found.

The study, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and published in The Lancet Psychiatry, analysed data from more than two million pregnant women and found that one in 10 who had used mental health services before their pregnancy had a preterm birth. This was compared to one in 15 in those who had not.

It showed that women who had at least one contact with mental health services in the seven years prior to their pregnancy were at increased risk.

Previous research has identified a link between poor mental health in pregnant mothers and worse outcomes for babies.

However, this new report, which linked hospital and birth registration data with specialist mental health service records, quantifies the effects in greater detail.

The study, the largest of its kind, also highlighted women who had used mental health services faced a higher risk of giving birth to a baby that was small for its gestational age.

The risk increased from 65 per 1,000 births in women who had not used mental health services to 75 per 1,000 births in women who had.

Women with psychiatric hospital admissions were at the highest risk of birth-related complications. Those with more recent pre-pregnancy mental healthcare contacts were also at high risk.

Senior co-author Professor Louise M Howard OBE, Professor of Women’s Mental Health at King’s College London, said: “This study highlights the significant extent to which women with pre-existing mental health conditions, particularly those who had a hospital admission and/or recent contact with mental health services, are at risk of adverse obstetric and neonatal outcomes.

It is therefore vital that midwives ask in detail about pre-pregnancy mental healthcare contact, and maternity and mental health services then work together to provide appropriate care to reduce this risk.

The study was led by researchers from University of Exeter, King’s College London, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and University of Liverpool.