TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2011//
TI  - The impact of the catastrophic earthquake in China's Sichuan province on the mental health of pregnant women
JO  - Journal of affective disorders
A1  - Qu, Zhiyong
A1  - Tian, Donghua
A1  - Zhang, Qin
A1  - Wang, Xiaohua
A1  - He, Huan
A1  - Zhang, Xiulan
A1  - Huang, Lili
A1  - Xu, Feng
SP  - 117
EP  - 123
VL  - 136
IS  - 1-2
N2  - BACKGROUND: On May 12, 2008, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck China's southwestern Sichuan province. Recent studies have identified mental health problems among the survivors, but little is known about the impact of the Sichuan earthquake on the mental health of pregnant women in the area. The main objective was to assess the impact of the Sichuan earthquake on the mental health of pregnant women in earthquake stricken areas. METHODS: During November 2009 and January 2010, 311 pregnant women were interviewed. Symptoms of PTSD were measured using IES-R, while symptoms of antenatal depression were measured using EPDS. RESULTS: The prevalence rate of PTSD symptoms was 12.2% (95% CI, 9.0-16.4). The rate of major depression was 40.8% (95% CI, 35.5-46.4). Living through an earthquake has been significantly correlated with PTSD but no significant correlation has been found with depression. The perceived stresses of pregnancy are significantly correlated with both depression and PTSD. LIMITATIONS: Lack of long term follow up data and comparison group from non earthquake struck area. CONCLUSIONS: 18months after the Sichuan earthquake, the incidence of depression and PTSD were still quite high among pregnant women in the earthquake stricken areas. Depression was more common than PTSD. Living through an earthquake has been significantly correlated with PTSD but not with depression.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0165-0327
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2011.08.021
ID  - ref1
ER  -