Assessment of risk of depression among the antenatal mothers attending a tertiary care hospital of Kolkata, India

• Main Authors: Sonali Sain, Maumita De, Indira Dey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Al Ameen Medical College 2021-04-01
• Series: Al Ameen Journal of Medical Sciences
• Subjects: antenatal mothers; maternal depression; risk factors
• Online Access: http://ajms.alameenmedical.org/ArticlePDFs/12%20AJMS%20V14.N2.2021%20p%20151-158.pdf
• ISSN: 0974-1143; 0974-1143

Background: Antenatal depression is a nonpsychotic depressive episode that initiates during pregnancy. But it is often under diagnosed and less documented. Maternal depression is one of the risk factor for poor growth and development in young children. Objectives: The present study was conducted with the objectives to assess proportion of mothers at risk of antenatal depression and to find out the distribution of risk factors for maternal depression. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted among 225 antenatal mothers attending a tertiary care hospital of Kolkata from January to March 2020. The mothers were interviewed face to face using predesigned pretested questionnaire, including use of Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). The data were analysed by simple descriptive statistics and statistical tests of significance like Chi square test was applied. Results: About 30.67% of antenatal mothers were found to be possibly suffering from the depression. Maternal educational status, social class, addiction, early registration, consumption of extra meal and iron folifer supplementation were found to be significantly associated with the risk of possible maternal depression. The association between risk of maternal depression and parity, planning of pregnancy were highly significant. Conclusion: The health professionals should regularly screen mothers to detect depressive symptoms at an early stage. Effective prevention programme can help to reduce maternal depression and ensure good perinatal outcome.