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Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health

A journal of peer-reviewed research

Correlates of Common Mental Disorders Among Dutch Women Who Have Had an Abortion: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

4912317.pdf

Authors

Jenneke van Ditzhuijzen, Utrecht University Margreet ten Have, Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction (Trimbos Institute) Ron de Graaf, Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction (Trimbos Institute) Carolus H.C.J. van Nijnatten, Utrecht University Wilma A.M. Vollebergh, Utrecht University
CONTEXT

Credible research has not found any evidence that abortion causes mental disorders. It is not known, however, whether abortion-specific risk indicators and other variables are associated with the incidence or recurrence of mental disorders after abortion.

METHODS

As part of a prospective cohort study conducted in the Netherlands, 325 women were interviewed between April 2010 and January 2011, between 20 and 40 days after having an abortion; 264 were followed up an average of 2.7 years later. Associations between selected baseline variables and postabortion incident or recurrent mental disorders among the 199 women at risk were investigated using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.

RESULTS

Thirty-two percent of women at risk of an incident or recurrent mental disorder experienced one after the abortion. In multivariate analyses, no abortion-related variables (e.g., history of multiple abortions, second-trimester abortion, preabortion decision difficulty or uncertainty, and postabortion negative emotions) were associated with experience of any postabortion incident or recurrent mental disorders. The outcome was positively associated with having conceived within an unstable relationship (odds ratio, 3.0), number of negative life events in the past year (1.4) and having a history of mental disorders (2.4).

CONCLUSIONS

Correlates of postabortion mental disorders were variables that have been identified as general risk factors for mental disorders, which supports the idea that abortion does not pose specific risks to future mental health. Future research should investigate in what way unstable relationships, adverse life events and psychiatric history affect postabortion mental health.

Author's Affiliations

Jenneke van Ditzhuijzen is research scientist and lecturer, Carolus H.C.J. van Nijnatten is professor, and Wilma A.M. Vollebergh is professor—all with the Department of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Margreet ten Have is senior scientist, and Ron de Graaf is senior scientist—both with the Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction (Trimbos Institute), Utrecht.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Guttmacher Institute.
Volume 49, Issue 2
June 2017
|
Pages 123 - 131

First published online: May 2, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1363/psrh.12028
Source / Available for Purchase
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1363/psrh.12028/full

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