5. Conclusions
depressive, anxiety, weight reduction
STRESSFUL EVENTS
Our data show a significant increase in anxiety and depressive symptoms between the start and the end of the interpregnancy period. Of the women who were not anxious at the start, 39% experienced anxiety at the end of interpregnancy. Sense of coherence at the start of the next pregnancy was independently associated with women’s pre-pregnancy BMI and fat percentage. Our results indicate that the interpregnancy period appears to offer an opportunity to develop innovative preventative interventions. We believe that the development of preconception lifestyle interventions that focus on both weight reduction and support in understanding, managing and giving meaning to stressful events (sense of coherence) may be of added value to optimize women’s preconception health.