Unhappiness with the Fetal Gender is associated with Depression in Adult Pregnant Women Attending Prenatal Care in a Public Hospital in Durango, Mexico

Depression during pregnancy has been scantily studied in Mexican women. We aimed to determine the prevalence and correlates of depression in adult pregnant women attending a public hospital in the northern Mexican city of Durango, Mexico. Through a cross-sectional study design, we assessed depression in 270 adult pregnant women attended for prenatal care in a public hospital using a validated Mexican version of the Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale in pregnancy and further confirmation by a psychiatric evaluation using the DSM-IV criteria for depression. Prevalence association with socio-demographic, clinical and psychosocial characteristics of the pregnant women was also investigated. Of the 270 pregnant women studied, 101 (37.4%) had EPDS scores equal to or higher than nine. Depression was confirmed in 56 (20.7%) women. Of them, 42 suffered from minor depression and 14 from major depression. Multivariate analysis of socio-demographic, clinical and psychosocial characteristics of the women showed that depression was associated with depression before pregnancy (OR = 3.36; 95% CI: 1.20-9.40; P=0.02), anxiety during pregnancy (OR = 9.38; 95% CI: 1.87-46.96; P=0.006), smoking (OR = 25.05; 95% CI: 1.77-353.07; P=0.01), unhappy with the fetal sex (OR = 8.53; 95% CI: 2.46-29.48; P<0.001), and unintended pregnancy (OR = 2.90; 95% CI: 1.07-7.86; P=0.03). Results indicate that about one fifth of the pregnant women studied had confirmed depression. This is the first report of an association of prenatal depression with unhappiness with the fetal sex. Factors associated with prenatal depression found in this study may help for the optimal design of preventive measures against prenatal depression.