Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2015;37(12):571-577
DOI 10.1590/S0100-720320150005419
To evaluate the nutritional and psychological factors associated with the occurrence of the practice of pica in pregnant women attending a public hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The study was based on a descriptive design with exploratory features, and conducted on 13 adult and adolescent pregnant women aged 16 to 40 years with a diagnosis of pica in the current pregnancy. Pica was diagnosed by a nutritionist in a standardized interview situation, when questions about the occurrence and frequency of pica, and types of substance ingestion were investigated. After signing the Informed Consent Form (ICF), all participants were evaluated by a nutritionist and seven of them were submitted to psychological assessment with standardized instruments to evaluate stress and anxiety, and to assess coping strategies.
The type of pica most frequently reported was pagophagia (30.8%) and the consumption of fruit with salt (30.8%). The most prevalent coping strategies were "religious practice-focused" and "seeking social support", both presented by 42% of the pregnant women. We observed the occurrence of some degree of stress and anxiety in all pregnant women, as well as comorbidities (69.2%) and gastrointestinal symptoms (84.6%).
Considering that pica may be associated with increased perinatal risk, it is very important to investigate this disorder during prenatal care, and to dopt obstetric, psychological and nutritional preventive practices to reduce the complications for mother and fetus.
Summary
Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. 2013;35(6):255-261
DOI 10.1590/S0100-72032013000600004
PURPOSE: To evaluate the level of stress in men and women seeking treatment for infertility and to identify the associated variables. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with 101 men and 101 women consulting for the first time at the Human Reproduction Unit. Participants completed the Brazilian version of the Fertility Problem Inventory (FPI) based on four domains: "social relationships", "life without children"; "marital relationship/sexual" and "maternity/paternity" and a structured questionnaire with socioeconomic and reproductive variables. Bivariate analysis was performed using the Chi-square and Fisher exact tests, considering p<0.05. Afterwards the multivariate correspondence analysis was done with variables with p<0.20. RESULTS: Overall, the participants presented a high level of stress in all domains, except in the "life without children" domain. Multivariate analysis of correspondence showed that variables associated with a high level of stress in the "social relationships" domains were: to be a woman, to have the infertility problem, and to consider the quality of the marital relationship to be regular. In the "life without children" domain the variables that approached the high stress were: to be woman, age between 18 and 24 years, and to have the infertility problem. To be a man, to consider adoption, parents/in-laws and other people knowing about the difficulty to become pregnant, and to consider the quality of the marital relationship to be excellent were the variables associated with high level of stress in "marital/sexual relationship" domain. For "maternity/paternity" domain the variables associated were to be women, consider marital relationship quality regular, age between 25 and 35 years, be evangelical or protestant were the variables associated with a high level of stress. CONCLUSION:Men and women seeking treatment for infertility present a high level of stress and it can be suggested that psychosocial support is important and should be different for men and women.