French researchers say anxiety or depression, combined with other medical problems, may increase a woman’s risk of premature labor. Researchers from the CHU Clemenceau, in Caen, found that pregnant women who are depressed and underweight are nearly seven times more likely to go into premature labor than women who are not depressed.

Anxious women with a history of premature labor are nearly five times more likely to experience premature labor than less anxious women. The research is published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
(Reuters 18/02/02)

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