Abstract
During pregnancy, a woman’s enlarged uterus and the developing fetus lead to symptom distress; in turn, physical and psychological aspects of symptom distress are often associated with adverse prenatal and birth outcomes. This study aimed to identify the trends in the trajectory of these symptoms. This longitudinal study recruited 95 pregnant women, with a mean age of 32 years, from the prenatal wards of two teaching hospitals in northern Taiwan. Symptom distress was measured by a 22-item scale related to pregnancy-induced symptoms. The follow-up measurements began during the first trimester and were taken every two to four weeks until childbirth. More than half of the pregnant women experienced symptom distress manifested in a pattern depicted to be “Decreased then Increased” (56.8%). Other noticeable patterns were “Continuously Increased” (28.4%), “Increased then Decreased” (10.5%) and “Continuously Decreased” (4.2%), respectively. It is worth noting that most pregnant women recorded a transit and increase in their symptom distress, revealed by their total scores, at the second trimester (mean 22.02 weeks) of pregnancy. The participants’ major pregnancy-related distress symptoms were physical and included fatigue, frequent urination, lower back pain, and difficulty sleeping. The mean scores for individual symptoms ranged from 2.32 to 3.61 and were below the “moderately distressful” level. This study provides evidence that could be used to predict women’s pregnancy-related symptom distress and help healthcare providers implement timely interventions to improve prenatal care.
Highlights
Introduction iationsPregnancy-induced symptoms fluctuate across gestational weeks [1,2]
Most previous studies of pregnant women have focused on a single symptom or ex-amined the association among several symptoms, and how these symptoms are related to birth outcomes or postpartum complications [9,10]
Our study found that the “Decreased Increased” trend displayed the most noticeable changes and had significantly lower symptom distress scores than the other patterns; in this trend, the point of transition to increasing symptom distress scores came at 22 weeks
Summary
Pregnancy-induced symptoms fluctuate across gestational weeks [1,2]. These symptoms cause significant distress that impacts daily functioning, interferes with work performance and impairs the quality of life of both pregnant women and their families [3,4,5]. Persistent and severe symptoms are associated with adverse effects regarding fetal development and increased pregnancy risks, such as preeclampsia, vaginal bleeding, preterm birth and postpartum complications [6,7,8]. Most previous studies of pregnant women have focused on a single symptom or ex-amined the association among several symptoms, and how these symptoms are related to birth outcomes or postpartum complications [9,10]. Previous studies have primarily addressed a wide variety of symptoms that women tend to experience only in their third trimester [1], or followed symptoms only from late in the third trimester to Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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