Background:

several researches worldwide have shown that pregnancy influences the course and appearance of the mental disorder. In Cuba, however, published studies are scarce.

Objective:

to determine the prevalence of mental disorder in pregnant women.

Methods:

a study was carried out from the quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional approach. The universe consisted of 14 386 pregnant women admitted to the maternity service of the Vladimir Ilich Lenin hospital from May, 2018 to October, 2019. 265 were selected through a non-probabilistic sampling. The semi-structured interview and observation were used for the evaluation. The variable was mental disorder. The results were processed in the EPIDAT 3.1 statistical package, with prevalence rates and absolute and relative frequencies.

Results:

a prevalence of 35.1 % (95 % CI: 29.1-41.0) of psychopathological antecedents was evidenced in the pregnant women studied. The suicidal attempt, the attention for the specialty of Psychiatry in some occasion of their lives and the personality disorder predominated. The estimated prevalence of mental disorder during hospitalization was 1.8 % (95 % CI: 1.6-2.1). Anxiety and sadness were highlighted as emotional disturbance, the disorder of adaptation with anxiety, and with depressed mood.

Conclusions:

the prevalence rate of psychopathological antecedents in the studied pregnancies was relatively high. In contrast, the estimate of the prevalence of mental disorder during hospitalization was considered low. However, a relatively high prevalence of anxiety was evident.

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