Mental health risk high for pregnant vets

LOS ANGELES – Female veterans who become pregnant may be at more risk for mental health disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety, a study finds.

Researchers looked at data on 43,078 women who were veterans who served in Afghanistan or Iraq and were treated at the Veterans Health Administration for five years. Among the study participants, 32 percent of women who were pregnant had a mental health diagnosis, while 21 percent of women who were not pregnant received a mental health diagnosis.

When all female vets taking part in VHA health care were compared with pregnant vets, pregnant vets were more apt to be diagnosed with major or mild depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, and alcohol or drug abuse or dependence during the study.

Pregnant vets had twice the rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety as their non-pregnant peers.

The results “point to a need for the VHA to continue to understand the overlap between pregnancy and mental health conditions in VHA patients,” wrote the authors. “By doing so, the VHA will be better able to identify groups of women veterans at potential risk for poor clinical outcomes.”

The study was published recently in the Journal of Women’s Health.