Pregnancy denial: a complex symptom with life context as a trigger? A prospective case-control study

Objective: To identify risk factors for a woman to experience pregnancy denial.

Design, setting and population: A French multicentric prospective case-control study with 71 mother-infant dyads having experienced a pregnancy denial versus a control group of 71 dyads.

Methods: Data were collected in the week after delivery using an observational leaflet and two psychiatric scales (MINI and QSSP).

Main outcome measures: Statistically significant differences between the two groups regarding social, demographic, medical and psychiatric data.

Results: Not being in a stable relationship (odds ratio [OR] 17.18, 95% CI 3.37-87.60]; P < 0.0001), not having a high school diploma (OR 1.11, 95% CI 1.04-1.38]; P < 0.0001) and having a psychiatric history (OR 6.33, 95% CI 1.62-24.76; P = 0.0002) were risk factors to experience pregnancy denial, whereas being older was a protective factor (OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.79-0.93; P = 0.0054) (logistic regression, Wald 95% CI). Other risk factors included late declarations of pregnancy history and past pregnancy denials (case n = 7, 9.7% versus 0% in controls; P = 0.01), past pregnancy denials in the family (case n = 13, 18% versus control n = 4, 5.6%; P = 0.03), and use of a contraceptive method (75% for cases versus 7% in control; P < 0.0001), primarily an oral contraceptive (75%).

Conclusion: Family or personal history of pregnancy denial should be part of the systematic anamnesis during the first visit of a patient of child-bearing age. Further, our study points out that life context (young age, single status, socio-economic precarity, pill-based contraception) could be a trigger for pregnancy denial in certain women.

Tweetable abstract: Life context can be a trigger for pregnancy denial.