Life events and difficulties and their association with antenatal distress in White and South Asian women in the UK

Symptoms of distress during pregnancy are common and often go unnoticed. There is a well-established relation between life events and depression. The current study aims to explore the association between life events and difficulties, and symptoms of emotional and somatic distress during pregnancy in White and South Asian women in the UK. 100 pregnant women attending routine antenatal appointments were interviewed using the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS). We investigated the frequency and type of events experienced in the year prior to conception and during pregnancy, as predictors for somatic and emotional distress, measured using the GHQ-28. Non-severe stressors accounted for over 90 % of those reported, half of which (43-53 %) were health and reproduction-related. Somatic symptoms were associated with the number of non-severe events, and number of children and emotional symptoms were associated with non-marked difficulties. There was little evidence of an association between severe events and distress. Ethnicity had little effect on any associations although South Asian women were at slightly higher odds of experiencing emotional symptoms, which appear to be buffered by social support. In routine antenatal care it is important to assess both emotional and somatic symptoms. Health professionals need to be sensitive to the health, social, cultural and environmental circumstances of women during pregnancy and ensure appropriate support is in place, particularly for multi-parous women. Regression models explained a small but significant amount of the variance in distress symptoms. Further work is necessary to explore other contributory factors and also the mechanisms through which stressors have their effect.