Pregnancy and the postpartum period are recognized as times of vulnerability to mood disorders, including postpartum depression and psychosis. Recently, changes in sleep physiology and sleep deprivation have been proposed as having roles in perinatal psychiatric disorders. In this article we review what is known about changes in sleep physiology and behaviour during the perinatal period, with a...

OBJECTIVES To identify and quantify risk factors for perinatal mortality in a Kenyan district hospital and to assess the proportion of perinatal deaths attributable to labour complications, maternal undernutrition, malaria, anaemia and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). METHODS A cross-sectional study of 910 births was conducted between January 1996 and July 1997 and risk factors for perinat...

BACKGROUND Increasing studies show that immigrants have different perinatal health outcomes compared to native women. Nevertheless, we lack a systematic examination of the combined effects of immigrant status and socioeconomic factors on perinatal outcomes. Our objectives were to analyse national Belgian data to determine 1) whether socioeconomic status (SES) modifies the association between ma...

Very few population-based studies of perinatal mortality in developing countries have examined the role of intrapartum risk factors. In the present study, the proportion of perinatal deaths that are attributable to complications during childbirth in Matlab, Bangladesh, was assessed using community-based data from a home-based programme led by professional midwives between 1987 and 1993. Complic...

In this paper we review some of the best available evidence to argue that screening for perinatal depression should be systematically conducted since pregnancy. Our view is organized in ten topics: (1) perinatal depression high prevalence; (2) its potential negative consequences, including maternal, conjugal, foetal, infantile, and child effects; (3) its under-detection and treatment; (4) its s...

The collection of perinatal data within Queensland, Australia, has traditionally been achieved via a paper form completed by midwives after each birth. Recently, with an increase in the use of e-health systems in healthcare, perinatal data collection has migrated to an online system. It is suggested that this move from paper to an ehealth platform has resulted in improvement to error rates, com...

BACKGROUND Traditional perinatal practices may protect against postnatal common mental disorders (CMD) in non-Western societies. AIMS To evaluate the association between perinatal practices and postnatal CMD in rural Ethiopia. METHOD A population-based sample of 1065 women was followed up from pregnancy until 2 months postpartum. Qualitative investigation informed the development of scales ...

background: asphyxia is a common cause of perinatal mortality in 5-10% of all births worldwide. the present parameters for determining perinatal asphyxia, e.g. preeclampsia, cannot be considered as markers per se, and require auxiliary markers, e.g. increased number of nucleated red blood (nrbc) cells, for early diagnosis of perinatal asphyxia. objective: in this study, we evaluated the mean nr...

Several recent studies have found markedly increased rates of schizophrenia among West Indian immigrants to the UK. Almost exclusively, authors have sought psychosocial explanations for these findings. This paper hypothesises that environmental causes, notably obstetric complications and perinatal infections, provide more plausible aetiological models, especially for the raised rates of schizop...