Childhood abuse and later worries about the baby's health in pregnancy.

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.