Depression among postnatal women in an urban Irish community

Abstract

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of postnatal depression in a community sample of women in a disadvantaged urban area in West Dublin, and to examine the factors which may be associated with it.Method: All women who had a live birth in the area over a one year period were identified (944) and the self-rated Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was distributed to those who could be contacted by the public health nurses. Those scoring in the depressed range (> 12) were compared to non-depressed for age, marital status, employment, parity, presence of a confidant, mode of delivery, previous miscarriage and previous psychiatric history.Results: Contact was made with 596 women and 377 responded. Responders were older and more likely to be first time mothers, but there was no significant difference between responders and eligible population for marital status. One hundred and eight women (28.6%) scored in the depressed range. Ten sociodemographic and clinical variables were entered into a logistic regression. Scores over the threshold (> 12), suggesting clinical depression, were significantly associated with four variables, lower age, absence of a confidant, previous miscarriage and previous treatment for depression by a GP.Conclusions: A high prevalence of postnatal depression of 28.6% was reported, which may be associated with overall high levels of social disadvantage in this sample. There were implications for the targeting of resources into such areas. The associated factors are discussed.

Postnatal Depression in First-Time Mothers: Prevalence and Relationships Between Functional and Structural Social Support at 6 and 12 Weeks Postpartum

“…The prevalence rate of PND in this study at 6 weeks was 13.2%, which is comparable with previous research in Ireland, where prevalence rates of PND varied from 11.4% to 28.6% (Crotty & Sheehan, 2004;Cryan et al, 2001;Greene, Nugent, Weieczorek-Deering, O'Mahony, & Graham, 1991;Lane et al, 1997;Martin, 1977;O'Neill, Murphy, & Greene, 1990). The variance could be attributed to the high representation of mothers with a previous history of depression in one study (Cryan et al, 2001) and mothers with single status in another (Greene et al, 1991).…”

“…The variance could be attributed to the high representation of mothers with a previous history of depression in one study (Cryan et al, 2001) and mothers with single status in another (Greene et al, 1991). Nevertheless, the most recently published study compares well with similar rates at 14.4% at 6 weeks (Crotty & Sheehan, 2004).…”

Prevalência e preditores de sintomatologia depressiva após o parto

“…Ao contrário do que acontece no nosso estudo, vários autores obser vam uma relação significativa entre sintomatologia depressiva após o parto e o estatuto socioeconômico (Righetti Veltema et al, 1998) e profissional (Bernazzani et al, 1997), mas também com a idade (Cryan et al, 2000), paridade (Warner et al, 1996), estatuto marital (Warner et al, 1996), acontecimentos de vida adversos (Johnstone et al, 2001;Eberhard-Gran et al, 2002), planejamento da gravidez (Warner et al, 1996), história de problemas obstétricos (Cryan et al, 2000), peso do bebê à nascença (Bergant et al, 1999), amamentação (Yonkers et al, 2001) ou qualidade das relações maritais (Kumar e Robson, 1984).…”

“…Outros estudos mostram igualmente uma relação significativa entre a história de sintomatologia psicopatológica (Bernazzani et al;1997;Cryan et al, 2000) e a experiência negativa de parto (Righetti Veltema et al, 1998) e a depressão após o parto. A história anterior de psicopatologia tem-se mostrado um fator particularmente importante na predição da depressão pós-parto (Paykel et al, 1980).…”

“…Variáveis biológicas (Glover, 1992), demográficas e psicossociais, como idade (Cryan et al, 2000), paridade (Warner et al, 1996;Righetti Veltema et al, 1998), estatuto conjugal (Beck, 2001), nível educacional (Tammentie et al, 2002), relação marital (Eberhard-Gran et al, 2002), vida familiar (Tammentie et al, 2002), acontecimentos de vida (Bernazzani et al, 1997;Righetti Veltema et al, 1998;Eberhard-Gran et al, 2002), estresse (Bernazzani et al, 1997), psicológicas, como história de psicopatologia (Johnstone et al, 2001), distúrbio psicológico durante a gestação (Bernazzani et al, 1997;Righetti Veltema et al, 1998), sensibilidade interpessoal e neuroticismo (Bernazzani et al, 1997), e obstétricas, como planejamento da gravidez (Beck, 2001), complicações obstétricas (DaCosta et al, 2000) ou experiência de parto (Hannah et al, 1992;Righetti Veltema et al, 1998), constituem fatores de risco para o aparecimento da perturbação.…”