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marked d i s t res s and admitted t o ha v i ng had symptoms prior to
delivery whic h ned become aggravat e d in the post part um.
only one SUb j e c t among t he f o ur psychiatic cases had t he
specific clinical syndrome of p s yc hos i s thus g iving t he
i nc idence of p ue r pe r al peychosLs as 2 . 6 per 1000 deliveries.
Al t ho ug h it is difficult t o compare t h i s incidence to othe r
r eported incider:ces of psych osis , beca us e of the marked
va riations in t he t i me pe r i od s of most studies , t he incidence
rate observed in t his study is similar to t he rates of 1 to
2.5 per 1 00 0 births r e port e d i n North Ame r i c a a nd Eu rope
[223 ,225,231). It is a l s o quite close to t he rates of 1.8 and
3.0 per 1000 i n Zaria, Nigeria and t he Asair region of Saudi
Arabia r e s pe ctiv e l Y [2 ,2 40] . It should be remembered, however,
that this study rate is probably a f r ac t i on of the true
i nc i de nce o f t he disease in this population s ince it reflects
only ea r l y puerpe r a l disease.
The findi ng that one o f t he four psychiatric patients in
t his s t Udy ha d an a c ut e co nfusiona l state disorder, is of
i nter e s t. Two s tudies on t he contine nt, one in Ni geria and the
othe r in 'renaan te (2 39 , 243 ] , have also noted with concern the
high frequen c y of this type of puerperal psychiatric disorder
i n thei r s ubjects. The resea rchers in enose tw o studies
questioned t he role t hat orqanic pu e r pe r a l d f.s casca and toxic
traditional be r bej, treatmen ts may play in these co nfusional
ment a l d i sorders.