Late preterm birth is a strong predictor of maternal stress later in life: Retrospective cohort study in school‐aged children

• DOI: 10.1111/jpc.13167
• Publication Date: 2016-05-26T00:18:13Z
• Authors: Branka Polic; Andreja Bubic; Julije Mestrovic; Josko Markic; Tanja Kovacevic; Milan Juric; Roberta Andrea Te...; Helena Susnjar; Ivana Kolcic
• Keywords: Male; intensive care unit ; maternal stress ; prematurely born infant ; term birth; Croatia; Infant, Newborn; Mothers; intensive care unit ; maternal stress ; prematurely born infant ; term birth.; Interviews as Topic; Intensive Care Units; 03 medical and health sciences; Logistic Models; 0302 clinical medicine; Surveys and Questionnaires; Humans; Premature Birth; Female; Child; Qualitative Research; Stress, Psychological; Forecasting; Retrospective Studies

AbstractAimThe aim of this study was to compare the level of stress in mothers of school‐aged children born late preterm and admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with the level of maternal stress if a child was born late preterm and not admitted to the ICU as well as if a full‐term child was admitted to the ICU.MethodsIn this retrospective cohort study the data were gathered via telephone interview with mothers. The Parenting Stress Index/Short Form was used to determine the level of stress in mothers. Background demographic characteristics, medically relevant variables, and the level of stress were tested using the chi‐square test and Kruskal‐Wallis test. Logistic regression was used in order to identify predictors of significant level of stress.ResultsMothers of late preterm born children who were admitted to the ICU, as well as mothers of late preterm children who were not admitted had higher level of stress compared to mothers of full‐term children. Namely, mothers of late preterm born children admitted to the ICU had 18‐fold increase in risk for significant level of total stress (OR = 18.09; 95% CI 8.55 to 38.26) while 24‐fold greater risk was observed in mothers of late preterm children who were not admitted to the ICU (OR = 24.05; 95% CI 10.66 to 54.26) in comparison to mothers of full‐term born children.ConclusionResults indicate that preterm birth and its complications are associated with a higher level of stress in mothers, that persists to school age.