Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Associated Risk Factors Among Parents of Hospitalized Term and Preterm Neonates

Abstract

Background: Parents of preterm neonates are exposed to stress leading to post traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). Objectives: In the present study we compared the prevalence of PTSD in parents of hospitalized preterm and term neonates. Methods: A descriptive-comparative study was undertaken in 2 Iranian Hospitals during 2016 and 2017. Parents of NICU hospitalized preterm neonates as well as those of hospitalized term newborns entered the study. Parents were invited for interview at day 3 - 5 after neonate’s birth. Questionnaires for acute stress disorder (ASD) were filled out and scored for both mother and father. After a month, parents were asked for a second interview. Prenatal post traumatic stress questionnaires (PPQ) for all mothers and posttraumatic stress disorder checklist (PCL) for all fathers were completed. All recorded data were analyzed to compare the prevalence of PTSD among parents of term and preterm infants. P values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: Parents of 80 NICU hospitalized preterm neonates and parents of 80 term hospitalized neonates entered the study. Both the mean ASD and PPQ scores among mothers of preterm infants were significantly higher than those of mothers of term infants (53.77 ± 13.58 vs. 49.27 ± 12.55; P = 0.032 and 31.67 ± 11.85 vs. 28.08 ± 8.80; P = 0.032). The mean PCL score among fathers of preterm infants was significantly higher than their counterparts in other group (31.5 ± 14.9 vs. 21.37 ± 5.4; P < 0.0001). A significant correlation was observed between mother’s PPQ and father’s PCL scores (P < 0.0001). Mothers with higher ASD scores also showed higher PPQ scores (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Although hospitalization of a neonate is a stressful event for parent, neonate’s condition related age at birth was the main subject for parents’ psychological complication and PTSD. Moreover, we found that, of parents, mothers were more vulnerable for PTSD but fathers indicated delayed onset of PTSD symptoms.