Recent Studies

2010

Associations Between Abortion, Mental Disorders, and Suicidal Behaviour in a Nationally Representative Sample.Mota NP, Burnett M, Sareen J. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 55, No 4, April 2010,

Methods: Data came from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (n = 3310 women, aged 18 years and older). The World Health Organization–Composite International Diagnostic Interview was used to assess mental disorders based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, criteria and lifetime abortion in women. Multiple logistic regression analyses were employed to examine associations between abortion and lifetime mood, anxiety, substance use, eating, and disruptive behaviour disorders, as well as suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. We calculated the percentage of respondents whose mental disorder came after the first abortion. The role of violence was also explored. Population attributable fractions were calculated for significant associations between abortion and mental disorders.

Results: After adjusting for sociodemographics, abortion was associated with an increased likelihood of several mental disorders—mood disorders (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] ranging from 1.75 to 1.91), anxiety disorders (AOR ranging from 1.87 to 1.91), substance use disorders (AOR ranging from 3.14 to 4.99), as well as suicidal ideation and suicide attempts (AOR ranging from 1.97 to 2.18). Adjusting for violence weakened some of these associations. For all disorders examined, less than one-half of women reported that their mental disorder had begun after the first abortion. Population attributable fractions ranged from 5.8% (suicidal ideation) to 24.7% (drug abuse).

Conclusions: Our study confirms a strong association between abortion and mental disorders. Possible mechanisms of this relation are discussed.

Editor Notes Regarding Key Findings: Among the most notable findings women who had abortions had:

• 59 percent increased risk for suicidal thoughts
• 61 percent increased risk for mood disorders
• 61 percent increased risk for social anxiety disorders
• 261 percent increased risk for alcohol abuse
• 280 percent increased risk for any substance use disorder
• The researchers concluded that approximately 6 percent of suicidal ideation cases among women nationwide and 25 percent of cases of drug use could be related to abortion.

Previous experience of spontaneous or elective abortion and risk for posttraumatic stress and depression during subsequent pregnancy Hamama L, et al. Depression and Anxiety Published Online: 23 Jun 2010

Background: Few studies have considered whether elective and/or spontaneous abortion (EAB/SAB) may be risk factors for mental health sequelae in subsequent pregnancy. This paper examines the impact of EAB/SAB on mental health during subsequent pregnancy in a sample of women involved in a larger prospective study of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) across the childbearing year (n=1,581).

Methods: Women expecting their first baby completed standardized telephone assessments including demographics, trauma history, PTSD, depression, and pregnancy wantedness, and religiosity.

Results: Fourteen percent (n=221) experienced a prior elective abortion (EAB), 13.1% (n=206) experienced a prior spontaneous abortion (SAB), and 1.4% (n=22) experienced both. Of those women who experienced either an EAB or SAB, 13.9% (n=220) appraised the EAB or SAB experience as having been a hard time (i.e., potentially traumatic) and 32.6% (n=132) rated it as their index trauma (i.e., their worst or second worst lifetime exposure). Among the subset of 405 women with prior EAB or SAB, the rate of PTSD during the subsequent pregnancy was 12.6% (n-51), the rate of depression was 16.8% (n=68), and 5.4% (n-22) met criteria for both disorders.

Conclusions: History of sexual trauma predicted appraising the experience of EAB or SAB as a hard time. Wanting to be pregnant sooner was predictive of appraising the experience of EAB or SAB as the worst or second worst (index) trauma. EAB or SAB was appraised as less traumatic than sexual or medical trauma exposures and conveyed relatively lower risk for PTSD. The patterns of predictors for depression were similar. Depression and Anxiety

Editor Notes Regarding Key Findings: Among women having an elective abortion, 28.6 percent rated it as the first or second worst lifetime experience. During the subsequent pregnancy, among women with a history of elective abortion 12.5% met the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis, 17.9 percent experienced major depression in the past year, and 4.5 percent had both PTSD and depression. Among those reporting that they had a "hard time" with their abortion or miscarriage, 32% were diagnosed with PTSD and 28 percent had major depression, and 17.3% had both.

2009

"Inadequate Preabortion Counseling and Decision Conflict as Predictors of Subsequent Relationship Difficulties and Psychological Stress in Men and Women"[1] Catherine T. Coyle, Priscilla K. Coleman, and Vincent M. Rue, 'Traumatology first published on November 16, 2009 as doi:10.1177/1534765609347550

(Abstract)The purpose of this study was to examine associations between perceptions of preabortion counseling adequacy and partner congruence in abortion decisions and two sets of outcome variables involving relationship problems and individual psychological stress. Data were collected through online surveys from 374 women who had a prior abortion and 198 men whose partners had experienced elective abortion. For women, perceptions of preabortion counseling inadequacy predicted relationship problems, symptoms of intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal, and meeting full diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with controls for demographic and personal/situational variables used. For men, perceptions of inadequate counseling predicted relationship problems and symptoms of intrusion and avoidance with the same controls used. Incongruence in the decision to abort predicted intrusion and meeting diagnostic criteria for PTSD among women with controls used, whereas for men, decision incongruence predicted intrusion, hyperarousal, meeting diagnostic criteria for PTSD, and relationship problems. Findings suggest that both perceptions of inadequate preabortion counseling and incongruence in the abortion decision with one’s partner are related to adverse personal and interpersonal outcomes.

Editor's Notes Regarding Key Findings: Overall, 54 percent of the women and 43 percent of the men reported all the symptoms for a clinical diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. Approximately 80 percent of women and 77 percent of men had at least one symptom of PTSD, and nearly 80 percent of women and 60 percent of men reported that the abortion experience was highly or overwhelmingly stressful.

Psychological impact on women after second and third trimester termination of pregnancy due to fetal anomalies versus women after preterm birth—a 14-month follow up study Kersting A, et al. Arch Womens Ment Health. 2009 Aug;12(4):193-201. Epub 2009 Mar 6.

(ABSTRACT) The objective of this study was to compare psychiatric morbidity and the course of posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety in two groups with severe complications during pregnancy, women after termination of late pregnancy (TOP) due to fetal anomalies and women after preterm birth (PRE). As control group women after the delivery of a healthy child were assessed. A consecutive sample of women who experienced a) termination of late pregnancy in the 2nd or 3rd-trimester (N = 62), or b) preterm birth (N = 43), or c) birth of a healthy child (N = 65) was investigated 14 days (T1), 6 months (T2), and 14 months (T3) after the event. At T1, 22.4% of the women after TOP were diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder compared to 18.5% women after PRE, and 6.2% in the control group. The corresponding values at T3 were 16.7%, 7.1%, and 0%. Shortly after the event, a broad spectrum of diagnoses was found; however, 14 months later only affective and anxiety disorders were diagnosed. Posttraumatic stress and clinician-rated depressive symptoms were highest in women after TOP. The short-term emotional reactions to TOP in late pregnancy due to fetal anomaly appear to be more intense than those to preterm birth. Both events can lead to severe psychiatric morbidity with a lasting psychological impact.

Editor's Notes Regarding Key Findings: 22 percent of women were diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder after abortion, compared to 18 percent of women who gave birth to a baby with very low-birth-weight (VLBW) and 6 percent of women who had a healthy full-term pregnancy.

While the three groups of women "did not differ significantly" on psychiatric disorders prior to abortion or delivery, the researchers noted a difference afterwards, with women who had abortions having the highest rates of psychiatric disorders. Further, 16 percent of women who had abortions had psychiatric disorders 14 months later, compared to 7 percent of women with preterm births and none of the women with healthy pregnancies.

The disorders found among women who had abortions included acute stress disorders, eating disorders, affective disorders and anxiety disorders, with depression and anxiety predominating over time. Just over 64 percent of aborting women in the study developed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

The authors reported that for most women, abortions in the 2nd or 3rd trimester after a negative fetal diagnosis "are major life events" that can cause ongoing problems even months after the event. They called for more resources and better screening to help identify those who might be at risk for problems after abortion and need psychological support.