Prevalence of Depression among Women Attending Antenatal Clinic at BPKIHS

Abstract

Pregnancy is a time of increased vulnerability for the development of anxiety and depression because there are profound physiological and emotional changes in the mother during this period. Depression and anxiety are the most common psychiatric disorders during pregnancy and the symptoms can range from mild to severe. The study aimed to identify the prevalence of depression and its associated risk factors among pregnant women. A descriptive cross-sectional research was conducted among 414 pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at BPKIHS through Systematic Random Sampling. Data were collected by interview technique using standardized and validated Edinburgh Postnatal Depression (EPDS) tool and Self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and binary logistic regression in SPSS version16. The prevalence of antenatal depression among the study population was 24.2 %. Antenatal depression was significantly associated with religion, gender of previous child, mode of previous delivery, fear of current pregnancy and complication, previous abortion, preferred sex of current child. Antenatal depression was 4 times more among the respondents having female child than male child (AOR= 4.135, CI: 1.146-14.924). Likewise, respondents who have the history of abortion were 4 times more likely to develop Antenatal depression (AOR=4.063, CI: 0.386-42.720). Similarly, respondents with the history of fear related to pregnancy complication were 3 times higher to develop Antenatal depression (AOR= 2.973, CI: 1.447-6.107).The study revealed that nearly 1/4th of the respondents had developed depression during antenatal period. Antenatal depression was higher among the respondents having the history of fear related to pregnancy, abortion and having previous male child. Therefore, screening pregnant women for depression during ANC visits and the provision of mental health education counseling services is recommended to mitigate the adverse health outcome of the problem.