Researchers are calling for more of a spotlight on the long-term health of postpartum patients following the release of a study showing that more than a third of them suffer from lasting issues after giving birth, per the World Health Organization, one of the study's supporters. In the study published Wednesday in the Lancet: Global Health journal, the researchers found that more than 40 million women endure health issues after childbirth that sometimes last for years, and that figure may be on the conservative side, as the data scoured was mostly from wealthier developed nations, per the Guardian.
Some of the conditions suffered by postpartum patients include pain during sexual intercourse (35% of those included in the study), lower back pain (32%), anal incontinence (19%), urinary incontinence (8% to 31%), anxiety (9% to 24%), and even fear of being pregnant and/or giving birth again, or tokophobia (6% to 15%). But despite the proliferation of such issues in new moms, the researchers say they've largely been ignored over the years: Looking back at literature spanning a dozen years, the scientists found no up-to-date guidelines for treating 40% of the 32 "priority" conditions.
"Many postpartum conditions cause considerable suffering in women's daily life long after birth, both emotionally and physically, and yet they are largely underappreciated, underrecognized, and underreported," says Dr. Pascale Allotey, head of the WHO's sexual and reproductive health division. "Throughout their lives, and beyond motherhood, women need access to a range of services from health care providers who listen to their concerns and meet their needs, so they not only survive childbirth but can enjoy good health and quality of life." In an opening paper accompanying the study, the researchers also note that "the health system provides a crucial opportunity to interrupt the chain of events that can potentially end in maternal death." (More mothers stories.)
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