Study of determinants of health status and quality of life in pregnancy

The pregnant women population represents an important segment of every society. Although of short duration, pregnancy makes changes in a pregnant woman’s life and, additionally, in the future life of a woman who is becoming a mother. Medically classified as a physiological condition, the healthy women pregnancy is, however, normally followed by changes in morphology and function of many organs and organic systems. Depending on psychological and physical status as well as living and work conditions, the adaptation to such changes is different and specific within pregnant women population. The changes in the quality of life of a pregnant woman inevitably reflect both on the life of her partner and family members, as well as on her work environment. It is the fact, that a large number of different factors could have an impact on the health status and the quality of a pregnant woman’s life and accordingly, a multidisciplinary approach and application of different measurement instruments and parameters are needed for the investigation of this population. Having in view the data from available literature, it is quite clear that, up to now, not enough attention has been paid to the assessment of the quality of life of pregnant women population. There are no available specific measurement instruments for the investigation of global health-related quality of life (HRQoL) during pregnancy, nor any comprehensive studies which could provide more detailed picture. OBJECTIVE The objectives of this study were: a) Development and validation of the originally created Pregnancy Symptoms Scale. b) Assessment of the sample size needed for the study. c) Assessment of the health related quality of life during pregnancy in the investigated sample. d) Comparison of health related quality of life among the subjects where pathological conditions existed during pregnancy and subjects with physiological pregnancy. e) Determination of potential predictors of health and quality of life during pregnancy in the domain of demographic, clinical, social and behavioural factors. METHOD The study was conducted at the Medical Faculty University of Belgrade, Clinic for Gynaecology and Obstetrics Clinical Centre of Serbia (GAK KCS) in Belgrade and the Institute for Epidemiology, Medical Faculty University of Belgrade, in the period from 2009. until 2012. year, and encompassed several stages. In the first stage, a specific measurement instrument was created for the assessment of health status and