Abstract
BackgroundThe association of antenatal depression with adverse pregnancy, birth, and postnatal outcomes has been an item of scientific interest over the last decades. However, the evidence that exists is controversial or limited. We previously found that one in five women in Kuwait experience antenatal depressive symptoms. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine whether antenatal depressive symptoms are associated with preterm birth (PTB), small for gestational age (SGA), or large for gestational age (LGA) babies in this population.MethodsThis was a secondary analysis based on data collected in the Transgenerational Assessment of Children’s Environmental Risk (TRACER) Study that was conducted in Kuwait. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine whether antenatal depressive symptoms assessed using the Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS) were associated with preterm birth, small for gestational age, and large for gestational age babies.ResultsA total of 1694 women had complete information about the outcomes of interest. Women with depressive symptoms in pregnancy had increased, albeit non-significant, odds of having PTB (OR = 1.41; 95%CI: 0.81, 2.45), SGA babies (OR = 1.26; 0.80, 1.98), or LGA babies (OR = 1.27; 0.90, 1.79). Antenatal depressive symptoms had similar increased odds for the three outcomes even after adjusting for several covariates though none of these reached statistical significance.ConclusionsIn the present study, the depressive symptoms in pregnancy did not predict adverse birth outcomes, such as PTB, SGA, and LGA, which adds to the currently non-conclusive literature. However, further research is needed to examine these associations, as the available evidence is quite limited.
Highlights
Every year approximately 15 million babies are born preterm [1]
We examined the association of depressive symptoms in pregnancy with each of the three outcomes of interest (PTB, small for gestational age (SGA) and large for gestational age (LGA)) using the chi-square test of independence and univariate logistic regression models and reported crude odds ratios (ORs) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals
A total of 2038 women were enrolled in the Transgenerational Assessment of Children’s Environmental Risk (TRACER) study and completed the Baseline and Stress questionnaires with usable data
Summary
Every year approximately 15 million babies are born preterm [1]. Several complications are associated with preterm delivery making it the leading cause of perinatal mortality and a major cause of child death in many middle and high income countries [2]. Several studies examined the effect of depression in pregnancy on preterm birth (PTB) and found a positive association [11,12,13,14]. Antenatal depression has been identified as a risk factor for low birth weight (LBW) [13] These associations have been presented in the meta-analyses of Grote et al who computed a pooled RR of 1.39 (95% CI: 1.19, 1.61) and 1.49 (95% CI: 1.25, 1.77) for the association of PTB and LBW, respectively [8]. The aim of this study was to examine whether antenatal depressive symptoms are associated with preterm birth (PTB), small for gestational age (SGA), or large for gestational age (LGA) babies in this population
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