American journal of medical genetics. Part A
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Am. J. Med. Genet. A · Sep 2010
Long-term parental psychological distress among parents of children with a malformation--a prospective longitudinal study.
We previously reported that prenatal diagnosis of malformations is associated with increased parental psychological distress after birth compared to distress in parents with postnatal diagnosis. We have now extended our earlier study to include a long-term follow-up of mothers and fathers 9 years after birth. Psychological responses were measured by General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), State Anxiety Inventory (STAI-X1), and Impact of Event Scale (IES) in 118 mothers and 100 fathers of 124 children with malformations 0-7 days (T1), 6 weeks (T2), 6 months (T3), and 9 years postpartum (T4). ⋯ This study shows that prenatal diagnosis is associated with significantly increased psychological distress in the acute postnatal phase. However, there was no long-term increase in psychological distress among parents with prenatal foreknowledge of their child's malformation. The significantly increased intrusive stress at 9-year follow-up might reflect long-term challenges related to having a child with a malformation.