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Health impact of disaster‐related stress on pregnant women living in the affected area of the Noto Peninsula earthquake in Japan
Author(s) -
Hibino Yuri,
Takaki Jiro,
Kambayashi Yasuhiro,
Hitomi Yoshiaki,
Sakai Akemi,
Sekizuka Naomi,
Ogino Keiki,
Nakamura Hiroyuki
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2008.01911.x
Subject(s) - pregnancy , odds ratio , medicine , anxiety , childbirth , edinburgh postnatal depression scale , confidence interval , poison control , injury prevention , demography , psychiatry , environmental health , depressive symptoms , genetics , sociology , biology
Aims: The present study assessed the health impact of stress on women who were pregnant during, or immediately after, a major earthquake and were living in the disaster area. Inherent resistance against the stress induced by the earthquake was also assessed. Methods: The panel study consisted of 99 women who provided responses before and after delivery (response rate, 77.9%). Psychological impact was assessed on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and stress resistance was assessed on the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC). Results: In adjusted multivariate models, the significant earthquake factor that predicted postnatal depression (EPDS) was ‘existing anxiety about an earthquake’ (β = 0.27, P = 0.01) and ‘parity’ (β = −0.26, P = 0.02). The SOC during pregnancy significantly moderated between ‘existing anxiety about an earthquake’ and ‘EPDS’ (β = −0.21, P = 0.02). During pregnancy the EDPS was a significant predictor of a physical abnormality during pregnancy or childbirth (odds ratio, 1.21; 95% confidence interval: 1.04–1.41). The SOC during pregnancy did not moderate between a physical abnormality and earthquake‐related stress. Conclusions: Provision of an adequate support system and improvement of the SOC of young women affected by a disaster may be two ways of reducing the deleterious effects of disaster‐related stress on maternal well‐being.