Postpartum depressive symptoms in the context of high social adversity and reproductive health threats: a population-based study

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Abstract

Background

Postpartum depression is an important but neglected public health issue in low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this study was to assess postpartum depressive (PPD) symptoms and associated factors in a rural Ethiopian setting characterized by high social adversity and reproductive health threats. We hypothesized that infant gender preference would be associated with PPD symptoms.

Methods

A cross-sectional, population-based study was conducted in Sodo district, southern Ethiopia, between March and June 2014. A total of 3147 postpartum women (one to 12 months after delivery) were recruited and interviewed in their homes. The questionnaire included demographic, reproductive health and psychosocial factors in addition to a culturally validated measure of depressive symptoms, the Patient Health Questionnaire. Scores of 5 or more were indicative of high levels of PPD symptoms.

Results

The prevalence of high PPD symptoms was 12.2%, with 95% confidence interval (CI) between 11.1 and 13.4. Of these, 12.0% of the study participants had suicidal ideation. Preference of the husband for a boy baby was associated with PPD symptoms in univariate analysis (crude odds ratio 1.43: 95% CI 1.04, 1.91) but became non-significant after adjusting for confounders. In the final multivariable analysis, rural residence [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.56: 95% CI 2.56, 4.19], grand multiparity (aOR 2.00: 1.22, 3.26), perinatal complications (aOR: 2.55: 1.89, 3.44), a past history of abortion (aOR 1.50: 1.07, 2.11), experiencing hunger in the preceding 1 month (aOR 2.38: 1.75, 3.23), lower perceived wealth (aOR 2.11: 1.19, 3.76), poor marital relationship (aOR 2.47: 1.79, 3.42), and one or more stressful events in the preceding 6 months (aOR 2.36: 1.82, 3.06) were associated significantly with high PPD symptoms.

Conclusion

PPD symptoms affected more than one in 10 women in this Ethiopian community setting. Social adversity and reproductive health threats were associated with poorer mental health. Interventions focusing on poor rural women with low access to care are necessary. This research can serve as an entry point for the adaptation of a psychosocial intervention.

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Most cited references 70

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Prevalence and determinants of common perinatal mental disorders in women in low- and lower-middle-income countries: a systematic review.

Jane Fisher, Meena Cabral de Mello, Vikram Patel … (2012)

To review the evidence about the prevalence and determinants of non-psychotic common perinatal mental disorders (CPMDs) in World Bank categorized low- and lower-middle-income countries. Major databases were searched systematically for English-language publications on the prevalence of non-psychotic CPMDs and on their risk factors and determinants. All study designs were included. Thirteen papers covering 17 low- and lower-middle-income countries provided findings for pregnant women, and 34, for women who had just given birth. Data on disorders in the antenatal period were available for 9 (8%) countries, and on disorders in the postnatal period, for 17 (15%). Weighted mean prevalence was 15.6% (95% confidence interval, CI: 15.4-15.9) antenatally and 19.8% (19.5-20.0) postnatally. Risk factors were: socioeconomic disadvantage (odds ratio [OR] range: 2.1-13.2); unintended pregnancy (1.6-8.8); being younger (2.1-5.4); being unmarried (3.4-5.8); lacking intimate partner empathy and support (2.0-9.4); having hostile in-laws (2.1-4.4); experiencing intimate partner violence (2.11-6.75); having insufficient emotional and practical support (2.8-6.1); in some settings, giving birth to a female (1.8-2.6), and having a history of mental health problems (5.1-5.6). Protective factors were: having more education (relative risk: 0.5; P = 0.03); having a permanent job (OR: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.4-1.0); being of the ethnic majority (OR: 0.2; 95% CI: 0.1-0.8) and having a kind, trustworthy intimate partner (OR: 0.52; 95% CI: 0.3-0.9). CPMDs are more prevalent in low- and lower-middle-income countries, particularly among poorer women with gender-based risks or a psychiatric history.

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Impact of maternal depression on infant nutritional status and illness: a cohort study.

Atif Rahman, Zafar Iqbal, James Bunn … (2004)

The risk for emotional and behavioral problems is known to be high among children of depressed mothers, but little is known about the impact of prenatal and postnatal depression on the physical health of infants. To determine whether maternal depression is a risk factor for malnutrition and illness in infants living in a low-income country. Prospective cohort study. Rural community in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Six hundred thirty-two physically healthy women were assessed in their third trimester of pregnancy to obtain at birth a cohort of 160 infants of depressed mothers and 160 infants of psychologically well mothers. All infants were weighed and measured at birth and at 2, 6, and 12 months of age, and they were monitored for episodes of diarrhea and acute respiratory infections. The mothers' mental states were reassessed at 2, 6, and 12 months. Data were collected on potential confounders of infant outcomes, such as birth weight and socioeconomic status. Infants of prenatally depressed mothers showed significantly more growth retardation than controls at all time points. The relative risks for being underweight (weight-for-age z score of less than -2) were 4.0 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.1 to 7.7) at 6 months of age and 2.6 (95% CI, 1.7 to 4.1) at 12 months of age, and the relative risks for stunting (length-for-age z score of less than -2) were 4.4 (95% CI, 1.7 to 11.4) at 6 months of age and 2.5 (95% CI, 1.6 to 4.0) at 12 months of age. The relative risk for 5 or more diarrheal episodes per year was 2.4 (95% CI, 1.7 to 3.3). Chronic depression carried a greater risk for poor outcome than episodic depression. The associations remained significant after adjustment for confounders by multivariate analyses. Maternal depression in the prenatal and postnatal periods predicts poorer growth and higher risk of diarrhea in a community sample of infants. As depression can be identified relatively easily, it could be an important marker for a high-risk infant group. Early treatment of prenatal and postnatal depression could benefit not only the mother's mental health but also the infant's physical health and development.

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Detecting perinatal common mental disorders in Ethiopia: validation of the self-reporting questionnaire and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale.

Abdulreshid Abdulahi, Charlotte Hanlon, Martin Prince … (2008)

The cultural validity of instruments to detect perinatal common mental disorders (CMD) in rural, community settings has been little-investigated in developing countries. Semantic, content, technical, criterion and construct validity of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) were evaluated in perinatal women in rural Ethiopia. Gold-standard measure of CMD was psychiatric assessment using the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale (CPRS). Community-based, convenience sampling was used. An initial validation study (n=101) evaluated both EPDS and SRQ. Subsequent validation was of SRQ alone (n=119). EPDS exhibited poor validity; area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve of 0.62 (95%CI 0.49 to 0.76). SRQ-20 showed better validity as a dimensional scale, with AUROC of 0.82 (95%CI 0.68 to 0.96) and 0.70 (95%CI 0.57 to 0.83) in the two studies. The utility of SRQ in detecting 'cases' of CMD was not established, with differing estimates of optimal cut-off score: three and above in Study 1 (sensitivity 85.7%, specificity 75.6%); seven and above in Study 2 (sensitivity 68.4%, specificity 62%). High convergent validity of SRQ as a dimensional measure was demonstrated in a community survey of 1065 pregnant women. Estimation of optimal cut-off scores and validity coefficients for detecting CMD was limited by sample size. EPDS demonstrated limited clinical utility as a screen for perinatal CMD in this rural, low-income setting. The SRQ-20 was superior to EPDS across all domains for evaluating cultural equivalence and showed validity as a dimensional measure of perinatal CMD.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Charlotte Hanlon:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7937-3226

charlotte.hanlon@kcl.ac.uk

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Int J Ment Health Syst

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Int J Ment Health Syst

Title: International Journal of Mental Health Systems

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1752-4458

Publication date (Electronic): 28 July 2018

Publication date PMC-release: 28 July 2018

Publication date Collection: 2018

Volume: 12

Electronic Location Identifier: 42

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000 0000 8539 4635, GRID grid.59547.3a, Department of Health Education and Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, , University of Gondar, ; Gondar, Ethiopia

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2322 6764, GRID grid.13097.3c, Centre for Global Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, , King’s College London, ; London, UK

[3 ]ISNI 0000 0001 1250 5688, GRID grid.7123.7, Center for Innovative Drug Development and Therapeutic Trials for Africa, , Addis Ababa University, ; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

[4 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2322 6764, GRID grid.13097.3c, Centre for Affective Disorders, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, , King’s College London, ; London, UK

[5 ]ISNI 0000 0001 1250 5688, GRID grid.7123.7, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, , Addis Ababa University, ; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Author information

Charlotte Hanlon http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7937-3226

Article

Publisher ID: 219

DOI: 10.1186/s13033-018-0219-x

PMC ID: 6064119

PubMed ID: 29344082

SO-VID: 4cdb59a9-5a26-4dff-9726-0120fee2bffa

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

History

Date received : 19 February 2018

Date accepted : 14 July 2018

Funding

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002992, Department for International Development, UK Government;

Award ID: 201446

Award Recipient : Abebaw Fekadu

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Neurology

Keywords: postpartum depression,social determinants,developing countries,ethiopia

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Neurology

Keywords: postpartum depression, social determinants, developing countries, ethiopia

Postpartum depressive symptoms in the context of high social adversity and reproductive health threats: a population-based study

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Most cited references 70

Prevalence and determinants of common perinatal mental disorders in women in low- and lower-middle-income countries: a systematic review.

Impact of maternal depression on infant nutritional status and illness: a cohort study.

Detecting perinatal common mental disorders in Ethiopia: validation of the self-reporting questionnaire and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale.

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