The postpartum period is a critical time for a woman, her newborn and her family, on a physiological, emotional and social level. Postpartum problems like poor physical and mental health lead to poor postpartum quality of life in women, which has a devastating effect on the health related quality of life of mother, newborn and her family. Cesarean section has been increasing at an alarming rate and causing serious deleterious effects on the infant and maternal postpartum quality of life in Pakistan. A study conducted in Lahore reported 21.07% cesarean section rate, of which 11.33% were elective and 88.67% were emergency cesarean sections. Complications during pregnancy and no antenatal care were the main causes of maternal morbidity and mortality. Other causes of cesarean sections were dystocia, fetal distress and previous cesarean sections.
The researchers at our team conducted a study to assess the health related quality of life of postpartum women. The results of the present study highlighted that women undergoing normal vaginal delivery had overall better health related quality of life as compared to women who had cesarean sections. The results of present study showed that women in age group between 21-25 had overall better HRQOL in all domains of physical and mental health while women in age group between 31-35 had worst mean scores. In current study, working women had better HRQOL than housewives in all domains, except social functioning and this might be due to better awareness regarding health among working women. Beside this, the results of present study showed women living in combined family systems had better HRQOL scores in all domains as compared to women living in separate family systems, which can be due to higher level of support provided to women living in combined families. Moreover, women with higher education had better HRQOL. This study concluded that there is a need of addressing the post partum depression issue in order to reduce burnout of women in our society whether they are housewives or working women.