An epidemiological study on depression among women during postpartum period in an urban slum of Bhubaneswar

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Depression accounts for the greatest burden of all mental health problems, and is expected to become the second-highest among all health problems by 2020. Postpartum depression (PPD) is a major public health problem with a peak incidence at 4-6 weeks postpartum, affecting 22% of women within a year of childbirth in India. It has an impact on the mother, her partner, the family, mother-baby bonding and the long-term emotional and cognitive development of the baby. The aim of the study was to: 1.To find out the prevalence of depression among women during the postpartum period 2.To identify the factors associated with depressive symptoms among them. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in an urban slum of Bhubaneswar from July 2017 to January 2018, among a sample of 60 postnatal mothers who had delivered in the last six months; selected by simple random sampling technique. Edinburgh Postnatal depression scale (EPDS) was used to identify mothers at risk of postnatal depression. A score of ≥13 was considered as positive for depressive symptoms. RESULTS: The prevalence of PPD was found to be 8.57%. Religion was found to be a statistically significant factor associated with PPD. Other factors like literacy status, socio-economic status, high parity, sex of the newborn, mode of delivery were also found to have an association with PPD. CONCLUSION: This study identified certain socio-demographic and obstetric risk factors for postnatal depressive symptoms in a community setting of an urban slum; screening of risk factors will help in designing preventive strategies for identifying PPD.