Indicators concerning perinatal health for Guadeloupe, Martinique and Reunion are overall "more unfavorable than in France", according to a study by Public Health France conducted in partnership with the Regional Health Agencies (ARS) and published Monday. The results of the 2021 National Perinatal Survey in these three overseas departments and regions (ENP-DROM 2021), "show overall less favorable health indicators and risk factors than in France, in a context of greater precariousness".
'Risk of chronic diseases'
First "worrying" point: the proportion of women with obesity before pregnancy was higher (between 22.1% in Reunion and 24.9% in Martinique, against 14.4% in France France) because it "increases the risk of chronic diseases for women as well as obstetrical and neonatal complications," says the report. The data also show a less controlled fertility in the territories studied with in particular a proportion of pregnancies arrived too early or unwanted of 23.7% in Reunion, 28.6% in Guadeloupe and 32.8% in Martinique, against 16.6% in the France hexagonal, says the study.
Some indicators relating to children were also more unfavourable in these territories, such as the share of children with a low birth weight (less than 2500 g) which was generally higher in these DROMs (between 10.5% in Martinique and 12.4% in Réunion, against 7.1% in France France). Babies also sleep too often in their parents' bed (32.7% in Reunion, 31.7% in Martinique and 28.4% in Guadeloupe, against 12.4% in France). "These figures demonstrate the importance of spreading prevention messages more widely vis-à-vis unexpected infant deaths," according to the study.
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'Domino effect'
The state of mental health of mothers in the overseas departments, regions and communities "was overall more unfavorable than in France", according to this study. For example, 33.9% of women in Guadeloupe and 31.9% of women in Saint-Martin, feed "a feeling of malaise during pregnancy", against 25.6% in France. "Two months from postpartum, they are 31% to present major depressive symptoms, against 16.7% in France", In Guadeloupe, 33.4% of women surveyed declare a net income of their household less than 1000 euros, and 30.4% in Saint-Martin, against 7.5% in France.
"With these figures, we have the feeling of a domino effect," said Gülen Ayhan Kancel, medical coordinator of the Perinatal Network of Guadeloupe, linking context of precariousness, often single-parent families, difficulty of access to care with mental health problems, at a press conference in Guadeloupe. For the coordinator, having access to this data is however "a positive point". She points out that "mental health is a taboo subject and especially among pregnant women, because it is commonly accepted that a pregnant woman is happy".