Prevalence and accompanying factors for postpartum depression symptoms

Introduction: Postpartum depression [PPD] is a disorder that starts during pregnancy or within the first four weeks postpartum with comorbid major depressive symptoms and is an important cause of morbidity and mortality for both the mother, and the baby. Depression surveys aimed to identify the at-risk population, during pregnancy and postpartum, may prove to be useful in preventing this disorder, which may have serious consequences. The present study aimed to determine the incidence of PPD symptoms in mothers with babies aged 1-18 months and to investigate the parameters affecting the occurrence of PPD.Methods: The study was designed as a descriptive, cross-sectional study including 302 mothers with 1-18-month-old babies registered at Firat 12 Family Health Center (FHC) in Buca, Izmir, between 1 November 2020 and 28 February 2021 The study investigated the sociodemographic characteristics of the cases, marital relations, reproductive health, recent birth history, and development of depression as detected using the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS).Results: The mean age of the 302 participants included in the study was 29.49± 5.18 years, where the mean score from the EPDS scale was 6.43± 6.06. As a result of the study, the risk of occurrence of PPD was 14.6%. In the present research, the factors associated with increased risk of PPD included a history of personal and familial psychiatric disorders, poor communication with the partner, partner’s irregular employment status, psychiatric disorders during the previous birth, lack of regular monitoring during pregnancy, and lack of a helper in baby care (p lt;0.050).Conclusion: In particular, the practices that may reduce the risk of PPD include regular follow-up of the pregnancies of the women with a personal or familial history of psychiatric disorders or with psychiatric problems during their previous birth, questioning their family relationships during this process, referring them to a psychologist, psychiatrist or family counselor if necessary, and offering postpartum family support to mothers in baby care.Keywords: Postpartum period, prevalence, depression, risk factor