Researchers found that 10.6% of women included in a recent study showed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) two months after an induced vaginal birth. The study results were presented at the 2026 Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine meeting.
Several factors were linked to a higher risk of PTSD symptoms. These included having a prior mental health condition, needing medications to prepare the cervix for induction, experiencing heavy bleeding after delivery and having difficult or distressing memories of the birth in the days afterward. Certain medical reasons for inducing labor—such as fetal conditions like fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT)—were also associated with increased risk. The study also found higher rates among women born in North or Sub-Saharan Africa
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Causes of PTSD after delivery can include psychosocial vulnerabilities such as migration and psychiatric history and obstetric events like complications or pain. Treatments include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), medications like SSRIs, and supportive counseling, though prevention through better birth experiences is key.
Current evidence indicates that labor induction may increase postpartum mental disorder risks, with PTSD arising from negative birth experiences even in non-high-risk settings.
“Among the 3891 women in the TRAAP trial, 20.4% (794/3891) had labor induced,” the authors wrote.
The authors aimed to evaluate the prevalence of PTSD symptoms and identify associated risk factors two months after induced vaginal delivery in women with singleton pregnancies beyond 35 weeks’ gestation, using validated self-administered questionnaires as part of a prospective ancillary cohort study from the TRAAP randomized controlled trial.
The methods encompassed a prospective ancillary cohort study within the TRAAP double-blind RCT conducted in 15 French maternity units from 2015-2016, targeting women with induced labor leading to singleton vaginal delivery after 35 weeks who responded to self-administered IES-R and TES questionnaires at two months postpartum, employing inverse probability weighting (IPW) to correct for nonresponse and multivariate logistic regression to analyze risk factor associations.
Improvements could involve incorporating a comparison group with spontaneous labor for relative risk assessment, extending follow-up beyond two months to track symptom persistence, enhancing response rates through incentives or digital tools, and integrating qualitative interviews to explore subjective experiences.
“PTSD profile is prevalent after induced vaginal delivery, underscoring the role of psychosocial and obstetric factors in its development,” the authors wrote.
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