Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Mental health risk elevated among pregnant war veterans

The risk of mental health issues is higher among pregnant women who earlier served in war. This is according to recent research published in the Journal of Women's Health, which looked at veterans from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. They discovered that the chances of mental health problems including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and concern are higher among the veterans than their civilian peers.



Susan Kornstein, executive director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, commented: "With the increased number of women helping in the military it is important that we understand their unique health issues such as mental health problems during pregnancy."The authors reviewed the records of more than 43,000 female veterans who completed their military service in Iraq or Afghanistan between 2001 and 2008.The team, from the Yale School of Medicine, wished-for that the risk of mental health issues was increased by pregnancy due to the hormonal and physiological changes happening in the woman's body

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