Avaliação da qualidade de vida em mulheres grávidas de alto risco: um estudo piloto

Abstract

Introduction: Although pregnancy is a physiological and common event in a woman's reproductive life, some of her individual characteristics, behaviors, and lifestyle choices can influence the course of gestation. The presence of underlying pathologies and unfavorable evolution of such behaviors leads to a high-risk pregnancy. Among the most prevalent complications are Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) and Gestational Hypertension (GH). Therefore, assessing the quality of life (QoL) in high-risk pregnancies can be an important factor in the care of women with this condition. Objective: To assess the quality of life in pregnant women diagnosed with GDM and GH in a specialized high-risk maternity ward. Methodology: This pilot study employed an observational and cross-sectional design. Thirty pregnant women diagnosed with GDM and GH participated, allocated into three groups: those with a diagnosis of GDM (Group 1), those diagnosed with GH (Group 2), and those with a diagnosis of both GDM and GH (Group 3). In the evaluation, all volunteers completed a general questionnaire covering sociodemographic, gynecological, obstetric, and clinical data, along with the World Health Organization Quality of Life–bref (WHOQOL– bref) questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, the Kruskall-Wallis test, and Dunn's post-test were used for data analysis. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in sociodemographic and obstetric data between the groups. In the assessment of quality of life, there was a statistically significant difference in the environmental domain (p=0.02). There was no statistically significant difference in the physical (p=0.23), psychological (p=0.23), and social relationship (p=0.45) domains. The physical domain had the lowest mean when compared to the other domains. Conclusion: Group 1 showed a worse outcome in the environmental domain. It was observed that almost all domains of the quality of life assessment were classified as regular, except for the physical domain, which was classified as needing improvement. It is suggested that the assessment of Quality of Life (QoL) be considered an important part of high-risk prenatal care as a tool for a comprehensive and expanded approach to the pregnant woman, allowing for a broader evaluation of health conditions and well-being.