Mothers of children affected by fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT) reported feeling significant psychological distress that lasted over six weeks after delivery, according to a study recently published in Blood.
If a woman has had a pregnancy previously affected by FNAIT, OB-GYN doctors primarily seek to ensure that subsequent pregnancies are safe, given that FNAIT in a pregnancy raises the risk of more severe disease in future ones. However, less attention is often given to how mothers with children affected by FNAIT cope psychologically after delivery.
Researchers hence conducted a survey among mothers with FNAIT to assess various psychological outcomes, including depression and anxiety (using the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology Self-Report [QIDS-SR] and the General Anxiety Disorder 7-Item [GAD-7]), as well as post-traumatic stress disorder (using the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale Self-Report Version for DSM-5 [PDS-5]). In addition, other areas of psychological well-being, including the presence of stress, changes in mood, and sleep disturbances, were also assessed.
A total of 78.7% of mothers surveyed reported psychological symptoms lasting more than six weeks: of these, stress (92%) was the most common, followed by mood changes (81%) and sleep disturbances (64%). With regards to stress, 87% of survey responders indicated that this symptom arose within a month of childbirth. Among responders with mood changes, 15% reported noticing these symptoms within a month postpartum. Sleep disturbances associated with FNAIT occurred immediately after child delivery in the majority of cases (55%).
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Half (50%) of the mothers who completed the questionnaire for anxiety met the threshold for generalized anxiety disorder. Meanwhile, a quarter (25%) of mothers who responded to the depression questionnaire met the threshold for depression. A quarter (23%) of patients were screened to be positive for PTSD.
“This cross-sectional survey study confirms that mothers of children affected with FNAIT develop significant FNAIT-related psychological distress,” the authors of the study wrote.“These data suggest the need for multidisciplinary support for mothers of children affected with FNAIT starting soon after diagnosis.”
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