A study of postnatal depression in a tertiary care centre – A prospective observational study

Abstract

Postnatal depression is defined as non-psychotic depressive episodes of mild to major severity which occurs during pregnancy or postpartum. It is one of the most common non obstetric disorders that causes significant morbidity in women during the perinatal period. It is often unrecognized, but an extremely common yet a disorder (100-150 per 100 births) and is prevalent among Indian women up to 19% - 22% as well. The aim of this study is to find out incidence of postnatal depression in Vijaya Hospital, a private tertiary care hospital. This study aims at identifying the incidence of postnatal depression in postnatal mothers in a tertiary care centre using Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) questionnaire and the risk factors contributing to postpartum depression. The results were incidence of postnatal depression at week one was 40% and week four was 27%.: It is a prospective observational study with a sample size of 100. Postnatal mothers were screened using EPDS questionnaire at one week when they are admitted in hospital and four weeks when they come for postnatal checkup. Women with EPDS score of 13 and above was considered having Postpartum Depression. Age, socioeconomic status, educational status, employment status, type of family, menstrual history, premenstrual syndrome, obstetric score, mode of delivery, planning of pregnancy, relationship with parents, in laws and partner was compared at one week and four weeks.The Primary outcome of the study was to measure the incidence of PPD at week one which was 40% and week four which was 27%. The secondary outcome identified the risk factors contributing to PPD in my study was menstrual history, mode of delivery, relationship with in laws, lack of partner support which was found to be statistically significant. In my study done in a private tertiary care hospital, the cumulative incidence of PPD was 52%. Delivery through Caesarean section, menstrual history and poor relationship with in laws at one week was found to be statistically significant with a p-value of <0.05. Lack of partner support at one week and four weeks were found to be statistically significant with a p- value of < 0.05.