Complications, Healthcare and Psychological Distress in Pregnant Women with a Migrant Background

Abstract

Migrant women have a lower level of prenatal healthcare consumption and a higher level of perinatal complications, according to previous studies. To examine whether migrant women differ from native women in terms of pregnancy complications, healthcare consumption, and psychological distress, there are several researchers, who conducted a study in a country with free healthcare access. The short communication includes native women of different regions and women with migrant backgrounds who sought antenatal care in different hospitals. The medical records of pregnant women from different hospitals and published papers were analyzed to determine complications and healthcare consumption. The covariates were adjusted in regression analyses. During this study, women with migrant backgrounds reported higher levels of depression, even after socioeconomic factors were considered. Psychological distress was associated with more hospital admissions during pregnancy. When experiencing depressive symptoms, women with a migrant background had an increased risk to be admitted. Compared to native women, women with migrant backgrounds did not have different pregnancy-related complications, except for diabetes, nor did they consume health care differently. A migrant background, however, is associated with more depressive symptoms, and people who are depressed are more likely to be hospitalized. Providing better healthcare for this population requires further research