French women ignore the risks of pregnancy

What perception do French women have of pregnancy? This is the whole question that the PremUp Foundation wanted to answer, which works on the prevention of disability at birth. This Tuesday, June 4, she unveils the results of an unprecedented survey carried out by Opinion Way among 1000 women, in order to assess their knowledge of pathological pregnancies and the risks involved. And what emerges from this survey is the deep ignorance of the different aspects of pregnancy.

First, almost 1/3 of women who have ever been pregnant have had complications during their pregnancy. A reality that French women find it difficult to perceive since for 62% of those questioned, this period is not considered to be at risk.

In addition, this survey reveals another finding that may cause concern. For nearly 1 in 2 women, pathological pregnancies have decreased over the past 10 years and 65% estimate them at 10% or less. A perception again erroneous, since in fact approximately 20% of pregnancies each year involve a risk for the mother or the child. But what seems most alarming in this survey is that 27% of respondents would be willing to forgo some care during their pregnancy for financial reasons. An absence of medical follow-up for these pregnant women confirmed by another figure: only 39% of the women questioned declared having received at least once in their life advice from their doctor or midwife.

Finally, a positive note all the same in this survey, French women seem to have identified the risk factors during pregnancy. For 32% of them, risky behavior is the first cause (smoking, alcohol, taking medication, etc.) followed by late pregnancies occurring after 40 years (15%). However, even if they are aware of risky behavior, French women continue to put themselves in danger. Indeed, according to the 2013 national survey on the consumption of psychoactive substances, 24% of French pregnant women say they smoke daily. This is twice as much as the European average.