Mental Health Diagnoses 3 Years After Receiving or Being Denied an Abortion in the United States

Bibliographic Data

ID11028199
AuthorsM Antonia Biggs (0000-0002-3904-3177, M. Antonia Biggs and Diana G. Foster are with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, University of California, San Francisco, Oakland. John M. Neuhaus is with the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco.), John M Neuhaus (M. Antonia Biggs and Diana G. Foster are with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, University of California, San Francisco, Oakland. John M. Neuhaus is with the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco.), John Neuhaus (0000-0003-0998-4352, University of California System), Diana Greene Foster (0000-0002-2741-0283, University of California System)
Year2015
Volume105
Issue12
Pages2557-2563
Publication date2015-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048
PublisherAmerican Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2105/ajph.2015.302803
PMID26469674
OpenAlexW2108376868
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited23

Objectives. We set out to assess the occurrence of new depression and anxiety diagnoses in women 3 years after they sought an abortion. Methods. We conducted semiannual telephone interviews of 956 women who sought abortions from 30 US facilities. Adjusted multivariable discrete-time logistic survival models examined whether the study group (women who obtained abortions just under a facility’s gestational age limit, who were denied abortions and carried to term, who were denied abortions and did not carry to term, and who received first-trimester abortions) predicted depression or anxiety onset during seven 6-month time intervals. Results. The 3-year cumulative probability of professionally diagnosed depression was 9% to 14%; for anxiety it was 10% to 15%, with no study group differences. Women in the first-trimester group and women denied abortions who did not give birth had greater odds of new self-diagnosed anxiety than did women who obtained abortions just under facility gestational limits. Conclusions. Among women seeking abortions near facility gestational limits, those who obtained abortions were at no greater mental health risk than were women who carried an unwanted pregnancy to term

Abortion · Anxiety · Depression (economics) · Mental health · Obstetrics · Odds ratio · Pregnancy · Psychiatry · Demography · Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum · Medicine · Reproductive Health and Contraception · Reproductive System and Pregnancy

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access