Frequency of psychiatric disorders among women attending antenatal and general female outpatient department in a tertiary care hospital

ABSTRACT

To find out the frequency of psychiatric disorders among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic and to compare these disorders with those of non-pregnant females attending general female OPD. It was a cross sectional comparative study. It was carried out in the department of Psychiatry in collaboration with Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics combined Military Hospital Lahore from February 2006 to August 2006. Convenience non-probability sample was used for the selection of the subjects. The study population consisted of a total of 200 females, out of which 100 were pregnant women reporting for routine ante natal checkup and 100 non-pregnant females reporting to non-psychiatric general female OPD. After screening by General Health Questionnaire 12 [GHQ12], 96 subjects were excluded on the basis of GHQ 12 scoring and 104 were selected for interview to find out any psychiatric disorder among them. Psychiatric diagnosis was made on the basis of ICD-10 diagnostic guidelines. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences[SPSS] version 14. Psychiatric disorders were seen in 65 [65%] females attending antenatal clinic, as compared to 27 [27%] non-pregnant females attending general female OPD. Depression in 29 [39.7%] was the leading disorder in pregnant group, followed by anxiety related disorders like somatoform disorder in 11 [15.1%], mixed anxiety and depression 8 [11%], dissociative disorder 4 [5.5%], adjustment disorder 4 [5.5%], generalized anxiety disorder 3 [4.1%], obsessive compulsive disorder 3 [4.1%], phobic anxiety disorder 2 [2.7%] and Panic disorder 1 [1.4%]. Substantial number of pregnant women reporting in obstetric unit suffer from psychiatric disorders, which are same as in non-pregnant females. However the frequency of these disorders was more in pregnant group. Further investigations in this area are required to improve the plight of pregnant women