Abstract
The aim of our study was to explore the relationship between a medium-scale earthquake and maternal depression and child-rearing in a depopulated community in the Noto Peninsula of Japan. Three months after a major earthquake, self-rating questionnaires were distributed to women who were pregnant at the time of the earthquake or who became pregnant immediately thereafter, and who were receiving care at any of four major hospitals in the most devastated area. A total of 155 women who had given birth returned the completed questionnaire for analysis. Maternal postnatal depression among the participants was assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). The EPDS score was significantly associated with decreased "satisfaction with delivery" (beta = -0.28, p = 0.01), increased artificial "lactation" (beta = 0.31, p = 0.002), and increased "trouble with infant care" (beta = 0.47, p < 0.001) in multivariate analysis. It was also significantly associated with increased "anxiety about earthquakes" (beta = 0.30, p = 0.001), and "anxiety about earthquakes" was significantly associated with increased "fear of the earthquake" (beta = 0.20, p = 0.04). Earthquake-related factors such as "anxiety about earthquakes" and "fear of the earthquake" did not have a direct effect on child-rearing factors; however, they did have a significant relationship with increased EPDS. Based on these results, we conclude that screening strategies for maternal depression in peri- and postnatal women under emergency circumstances are necessary.
Highlights
The Noto Peninsula area is located in northern Japan and consists of a depopulated community with a large elderly population
The mean Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) score for women who experienced a moderate-scale earthquake during pregnancy was 4.2, and the percentage of women falling into the high risk category for postnatal depression was 11.6%
A large population study on Japanese women with postnatal depression reported that the percentage who fell into the high risk category was 13.9% [25], suggesting that our study participants had almost the same prevalence of postnatal depression as that of the general Japanese population
Summary
The Noto Peninsula area is located in northern Japan and consists of a depopulated community with a large elderly population. 1000 neonates on average are born each year in the Noto Peninsula, so the effects of disaster-related stress on perinatal women cannot be ignored. Few have examined the effects of disaster-related stress on perinatal women [6,7,8,9]. The findings of these earlier studies suggest that prenatal stress caused by natural and man-made disasters may result in minor psychiatric distress [3, 4], low birth weight [7], preterm delivery [6, 10], smaller head circumference [6, 7], skewed sex ratios
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