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Multicenter Study
. 2022 Feb 3;17(2):e0263011.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263011. eCollection 2022.

Psychosis risk among pregnant women in Ghana

Samuel Adjorlolo  1   2 , Gwendolyn Mensah  3 , Caroline Dinam Badzi  4
Affiliations
Free PMC article
Multicenter Study

Psychosis risk among pregnant women in Ghana

Samuel Adjorlolo et al. PLoS One. .
Free PMC article

Abstract

Introduction: Psychotic illness, although is rare, has been reported in the perinatal period. Individuals diagnosed with psychotic illness tend to first exhibit psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), defined as subclinical psychotic symptoms that occur outside the context of sleep or drug use. However, there is a paucity of empirical data on PLEs in pregnancy to advance scholarly discourse and support professional practice. The current study investigated the prevalence and correlates of PLEs among pregnant women in Ghana, a West African state.

Design: A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from 702 pregnant women who responded to measures of PLEs, COVID-19 concerns and behavioral maladies such as anxiety and depressive symptoms. Descriptive and inferential statistics, namely chi square, exploratory factor analysis, MANOVA and multinomial logistic regression were used to analyze the data.

Results: The results showed that 54.2%, 27.3% and 18.5% of participants were at no/low, moderate and high risk for psychosis, respectively. A total of 44.4% participants were not distressed by PLEs, whereas 32.2% and 23.4% were a bit/quite and very distressed, respectively. Psychosis risk was elevated among pregnant women who were more concerned about the COVID-19 effects, scored high in suicidal ideation, depressive symptoms and sleep difficulties.

Conclusion: The study showed that psychosis risk is present in pregnancy.

Implications: Screening for psychosis risk in pregnancy should be prioritized for pregnant women with behavioral maladies, including suicidal tendencies, depressive symptoms, sleep difficulties and heightened concerns about COVID-19.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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Publication types

Grants and funding

The project received financial support awarded to Samuel Adjorlolo from the Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Advanced Scholars Program (QES-AS). The QES-AS is made possible with financial support from IDRC and SSHRC. Website of funding support: https://www.univcan.ca/programs-and-scholarships/queen-elizabeth-scholars/qes-advanced-scholars/ The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.