Psycho-emotional disorders in postpartum women after stillbirth

Objective: To identify psycho-emotional disorders diagnosed in women after stillbirth. Design: Cross-sectional study a face-to-face questionnaire. Setting: Postpartum area at a tertiary care referral hospital in León, Guanajuato, México. Participants: 210 women at immediate postpartum, divided into 105 women with stillbirth and 105 with healthy live newborn (controls). Data collection: Women answered face-to-face the questionnaire Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory-2. Findings: In 34.2% of women who had stillbirth, were diagnosed psycho-emotional disorders, compared with controls who were found in 19.0%, p = 0.019. In the logistic regression analysis the only significant risk factor associated to psycho-emotional disorder was the presence of fetal death, p = 0.002. The psycho-emotional disorders found in women with stillbirth were: depression (p = 0.026), hysteria (p = 0.012), psychotic deviation (p = 0.007), paranoia (p = 0.013), psychasthenia (p = 0.034), schizophrenia (p = 0.017), low self-esteem (p = 0.044) and anxiety (p = 0.049). Key conclusions: There is higher frequency of psycho-emotional disorders in women who suffer fetal death. Implications for practice: It is recommended to provide early care and psychological support to women who deliver a stillbirth.