PE Risk in Relation to Maternal Mood & Anxiety

[caryn]

A positive history of maternal mood or anxiety disorder was associated with a 2.12-fold increased risk of preeclampsia after adjustment for age, race/ethnicity, and pre-pregnancy body mass index (95% CI 1.02-4.45). The risk of preeclampsia appeared to be more strongly related with maternal mood or anxiety disorders first diagnosed during the index pregnancy (adjusted RR = 3.64; 95% CI 1.13-11.68). The corresponding RR for maternal mood and anxiety disorders diagnosed before pregnancy was 1.73 (95% CI 0.71-4.20)...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19197246

Okay, now *this* confirms a lot of our speculation. Being a nervous anxious person makes you at higher risk for preeclampsia, and diagnosed anxiety first diagnosed during pregnancy makes that pregnancy more than three and a half times more likely to develop it. Which is 5%x3.64= 18.2%.

Which makes it *much* more likely that if pregnancy makes you anxious, it's not the anxiety causing the PE -- it's the preeclampsia causing the anxiety.

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[jgrumet]

I was always a little anxious, but after I got pregnant it got crazy...I am still dealing with it! I never used to be this way. I want it to go away.

[karoliina]

I'm not an anxious person, and all through my first pregnancy I was almost too laid-back - very calm and worryless. This time the fear of PE coming back has surprised me, and also in the first trimester I was a lot more scared of having a miscarriage etc. than in my first pregnancy. Don't know why.

Karoliina

[momofhannah]

Hello, am glad to have found this info as it has confirmed what i had gone through in my pregnancy. I am a pretty anxious person and would have "white coat hypertension" even when pregnant with my first child. i even asked my ob gyn if i was at high risk for developing pre-e because i always seemed to have bordeline high systolic pressure only when in the office and had anxiety attacks before seeing the dr. the dr said that she di dnot think i would get pre-e or toxemia since i was only nervous in the office. she was wrong abouot that and i did end up getting toxemic around 33 weeks and had to deliver my baby girl at 36 weeks. now i know its the pre-e causing the anxiety even though i am an anxious person myself.

Hannah born 36 weeks moderate to severe PE (no HELLP)

[caryn]

Yes, exactly. I think some of us are probably predisposed to be anxious, but if the pregnancy makes it *worse* -- well then.

I was snapping wide awake at 3 am with panic attacks, myself. Outside of pregnancy I have no mood or anxiety disorders apart from a bit of vasovagal syncope when they draw my blood.

I'm glad you and your baby came through okay. :-)

[alviarin]

Thyroid disfunction has also been found to be higher in patients with mood disorders.

Thyroid requirements increase during pregnancy, and pregnancy can unmask a struggling thyroid gland, so it makes me wonder if that could be playing into things. Since thyroid disease is also a risk factor for preeclampsia.

[princess purr]

I'm on the very nervous side and have always thought that had a HUGE impact on me. I got preeclampsia very very shortly after I started training my replacement at work. Training this person had me so nervous.

[darateacher]

OMG!!! Makes total sense! Zoloft may have delayed the PE this time, right?

[missgamecock]

Yep I developed anxiety in pregnancy. In fact when I was admitted to have Cate, I had two history diagnoses 1) PE 2) Anxiety.

I thought I was never diagnosed with anxiety before but I guess he diagnosed me and didn't tell me...

[caryn]

I don't know if the Zoloft would have delayed it or not -- because they didn't look at that. :-)

I suppose there are two options: one, that women with a history of anxiety disorders have a higher risk of PE and that's because of some underlying condition that's related to both things, or two, that women with a history of anxiety disorders have a higher risk of PE and that's because of the presence of anxiety, in which case treating the anxiety might lower risk.

Maybe next they'll do a case-control study where they look at women who were taken off their Xanax at the beginning of pregnancy vs. women who stayed on it, and compare the PE rates in the two populations?