The Relation of Maternal Stress with Nutrients Intake and Pregnancy Outcome in Pregnant Women

ABSTRACT

Maternal stress was one of the common symptoms that pregnant women could have experienced during pregnant period. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation of maternal stress with maternal nutrients intake and pregnancy outcome. Subjects were 248 pregnant women and were recruited at two hospitals in Seoul area. Individual stress levels were divided by the stress scores (total 41 scores), as low stressed group ( or = 12). The social characteristics, nutrient intake, anthropometric measurements and pregnancy outcome were compared between low stressed group (LSG) and high stressed group (HSG) to recognize risk factor of maternal stress. We found that subjects experience stress by various factors which were concern about newborn (40.4%), concern about health (28.8%), economic difficulties (13.2%), depress (10.1%), family relationship (2.9%), concern of house work (2.5%), human relationship (2%). In HSG, unemployed rate (p < 0.05) and pre-pregnancy BMI (p < 0.05) were higher than in LSG. Family size in HSG was larger than that in LSG (p < 0.01). Doing regular exercise with the light activity level was significantly higher in LSG (p < 0.05). The nutrient intake in LSG was slightly higher than that in HSG, but not statistically significant. Pregnancy outcome was not significantly affected by the maternal stress. In conclusion, the risk of maternal stress may be related with a life style during pregnancy. Therefore, life style for maternal stress control, such as weight control and regular exercise is recommended to prevent maternal stress.