18 chronic diseases were investigated in a population of 13,115 women living in six settings of West- (Avon UK, the Isle of Man), Central- (the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic) and East-Europe (the Ukraine and Russia), that collaborate in the European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC project). In prenatal questionnaires filled in after the first half of pregnancy, women reported 25,795 chronic diseases they ever suffered, out of them 11,188 having in present pregnancies. In the whole sample, lifelong prevalence was 11,2%, and prevalence in pregnancy 4,8% which means that 43,4% of all chronic diseases recurred in pregnancy. Up to mean age of 255 years in the whole sample, 39,6% women reported ever having indigestion, 29% back pains, 22,6% migraine, about 16% haemorrhoids, hay fever and eczema, about 10% varicose veins, anorexia nervosa, heavy depression and kidney diseases, over 5% rheumatism and 4% asthma. Less prevalent were infections of pelvic organs, febrile convulsions, joint inflammations, stomach ulcers, psoriasis and epilepsy. Lifetime prevalence of chronic diseases and their prevalence in pregnancy were the highest in the western zone and decreased eastwards, but recurrence grew in the opposite direction, being the highest in the eastern zone. The variation of each morbidity indicator is followed in all diseases between geographical zones as well as between individual study centres.

Research Institute of Preventive and Social Paediatrics Medical Faculty Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic