Psychiatric risk factors in the pregnant diabetic patient.

One hundred pregnant diabetic patients have been prospectively studied in the first large-scale systematic evaluation of emotional behavior and psychosocial factors influencing psychiatric behavior in the pregnant diabetic patient. A Psychiatric Risk Scale including ten weighted medical and psychosocial factors has been developed to identify patients at high risk for psychiatric illness or poor compliance. This scale significantly increases the data base of classic "neglector" characteristics described by Pederson in 1965. Early identification of psychiatrically high-risk patients in concert with brief relevant psychodynamic exploration offers the potential of more directed care to a subset of patients at increased risk for poor perinatal performance.