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Stress and Drug Use from Prepregnancy, During Pregnancy, to Postpartum

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Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To document changes of stress and illicit drug use among women from 4 months prepregnancy to 6 months postpartum.

Study Design

In a longitudinal study of drug use in family planning clinics, 121 women who became pregnant were matched with 202 women who did not become pregnant. Self-reported drug use, Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale, and open-ended stress questions were examined every 2 months during the study period of time.

Results

Among drug-using pregnant women, drug use declined during 2nd and 3rd trimesters and increased immediately within 1 to 2 months postpartum. Levels of perceived stress declined throughout pregnancy up to 2 months postpartum, increased at 3 to 4 months postpartum and then declined at 6 months postpartum. In contrast, among nondrug-using pregnant women, stress remained stable until the 2nd trimester, increased from 3rd trimester to 1–2 months postpartum, then declined continuously to 6 months postpartum. For non-pregnant women, at the matched timeline, there was no clear pattern for changes of drug use and stress.

Conclusions

Our study has illustrated a complex time course of changes of both perceived stress and drug use from prepregnancy through 6 months postpartum. For drug-using pregnant women, pregnancy showed protective effect in reduction of both drug use and stress during pregnancy; and during postpartum, drug resumption peaked at 1–2 months while stress peaked at 3–4 months. If we can identify modifiable, pregnancy-related resiliency factors for both stress and drug use, we can begin to extend prevention efforts initiated during pregnancy into the postpartum period.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Margarita Morgardo, Arely Duran, Didi Rivas, Diane Rosaly, Sultana Nasrin, and Ebony Green (University of Texas Medical Branch [UTMB]) for data collection; Yimei Han (UTMB) for data management and analysis. These individuals as part of the research team were funded by Dr. Wu’s NIH grants. We also thank UTMB Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal Child Health Regional Program for the support of the study where Dr. Wu was a faculty member (2000–2010).

Funding

This study was funded by NIDA grants R01 DA020053 and K01 DA021814 (PI: ZHW) and partially funded by NIAAA grant P30 AA019358-01 (PI. Hessellbrook). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism or the National Institutes of Health.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA

    Z. Helen Wu

  2. Center of Biostatistics, Connecticut Convergence Institute for Translation in Regenerative Engineer, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA

    Z. Helen Wu, Rong Wu & James Grady

  3. Connecticut Human Milk Research Center, Division of Neonatology, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Hartford, CT, 06106, USA

    Elizabeth Brownell

  4. Department of Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA

    Cheryl Oncken

  5. Department of Community Medicine and Health Care, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA

    James Grady

Authors
  1. Z. Helen Wu
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  2. Rong Wu
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  3. Elizabeth Brownell
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  4. Cheryl Oncken
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  5. James Grady
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Z. Helen Wu.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Location of the Study

University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), Galveston, Texas, USA, where Dr. Wu was an associate professor in the Division of Adolescent and Pediatric Gynecology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, at the time of the study (2000–2010).

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Condensation

Our study illustrated a complex time course of changes of both perceived stress and drug use from pre-pregnancy through 6 months postpartum.

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Wu, Z.H., Wu, R., Brownell, E. et al. Stress and Drug Use from Prepregnancy, During Pregnancy, to Postpartum. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 8, 454–462 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00802-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00802-x

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