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Background: Antenatal depression and antenatal anxiety adversely affect several obstetric and foetal outcomes, and increase the rate of postnatal mental illness. Thus, to tackle these challenges the need for social support during pregnancy is vital. However, an extensive literature search failed to show a published study on the relationship between domains of social support and antenatal depressive, as well as antenatal anxiety symptoms in Australia. This study examined the association between domains of social support and antenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms among Australian women.Methods: The current study used data obtained from the 1973-78 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH), focusing upon women who reported being pregnant (n = 493). Depression and anxiety were assessed using the 10 item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D-10) scale, and the 9-item Goldberg Anxiety and Depression scale (GADS) respectively. The 19 item-Medical Outcomes Study Social Support index (MOSS) was used to assess social support. A logistic regression model was used to examine the associations between domains of social support and antenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms after adjusting for potential confounders.Result: The current study found 24.7 and 20.9% of pregnant women screened positive for depressive and anxiety symptoms respectively. After adjusting for potential confounders, our study found that the odds of antenatal depressive symptoms was about four and threefold higher among pregnant women who reported low emotional/informational support (AOR = 4.75; 95% CI: 1.45, 15.66; p = 0.010) and low social support (overall support) (AOR = 3.26; 95%CI: 1.05, 10.10, p = 0.040) respectively compared with their counterpart. In addition, the odds of antenatal anxiety symptoms was seven times higher among pregnant women who reported low affectionate support/positive social interaction (AOR = 7.43; 95%CI: 1.75, 31.55; p = 0.006).Conclusion: A considerable proportion of pregnant Australian women had depressive symptoms and/or anxiety symptoms, which poses serious health concerns. Low emotional/informational support and low affectionate support/positive social interaction have a significant association with antenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms respectively. As such, targeted screening of expectant women for social support is essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Little is known about women's use of health services affected by headache or migraine during pregnancy. This paper directly addresses the research gap reporting on the healthcare utilization among Australian pregnant women experiencing headache or migraine.Design and Setting: In this retrospective observational study, data on 1,835 Australian pregnant women were obtained from the nationally-representative Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Information on quality of life and health seeking behaviors regarding conventional medicine and complementary and alternative medicine providers was identified among these participants. Factors associated with healthcare use were analyzed using regression analyses.Results: A total of 16% of the pregnant women surveyed experienced headache or migraine, and over 20% sought help from more than two types of healthcare practitioners for their headache or migraine. General practitioners (37.8%) were the most commonly consulted providers of pregnant women for their headache or migraine. Women with headache or migraine during pregnancy had worse health-related quality of life than those without. Education level and private health insurance status of pregnant women are the predictors of the use of healthcare practitioners for their management of headache or migraine (both p < 0.05).Conclusions: Headache or migraine during pregnancy significantly impacts upon pregnant women's quality of life. The use of multiple healthcare practitioners, including conventional medicine and complementary and alternative medicine practitioners, highlights the need for further research investigating health services utilization of pregnant women with headache or migraine in different severity and frequency to help inform effective and safe treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]