Open AccessSecondary fear of childbirth prolongs the time to subsequent delivery
Author(s) -
SYDSJÖ GUNILLA,
ANGERBJÖRN LOUISE,
PALMQUIST SOFIE,
BLADH MARIE,
SYDSJÖ ADAM,
JOSEFSSON ANN
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
acta obstetricia et gynecologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1600-0412
pISSN - 0001-6349
DOI - 10.1111/aogs.12034
Subject(s) - childbirth , medicine , pregnancy , obstetrics , cesarean delivery , retrospective cohort study , surgery , genetics , biology
Objective . Most pregnant women are anxious about the delivery and up to 30% develop varying degrees of fear of childbirth (FOC). Secondary FOC occurs in parous women who have experienced a traumatic delivery. The aim of this study was to investigate the time to subsequent delivery and delivery outcome in women with secondary FOC, compared with a reference group. Setting . Southeast Sweden. Sample . 356 parous pregnant women with secondary FOC and a reference group of 634 parous women without FOC. Design . Descriptive, retrospective case–control study. Main outcome measures . Time to next pregnancy and delivery outcome. Results . More women with secondary FOC had a longer interval to subsequent delivery compared with parous women without FOC ( p = 0.005). Women with secondary FOC had 5.2 times higher probability of having a cesarean section than the reference group. Women with secondary FOC also had on average a 40‐minute longer duration of active labor than women without FOC ( p < 0.001). Conclusions . Secondary fear of childbirth prolongs the time to subsequent delivery and the active phase of labor itself, and increases the risk for cesarean section.