Characteristics of Postpartum Depression in Anand District, Gujarat, India

Abstract

Characteristics of postpartum depression (PPD) in Anand District, Gujarat, India. PPD affects 1 in 10 women in the developed world. It has been implicated as an independent factor with adverse effect on child health, and health care-seeking behavior of mothers. We sought to find the prevalence of PPD in our hospital by including mothers who registered and delivered live babies at our hospital. Basic demographic information related to pregnancy was acquired from mothers and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), pre-translated and validated in Gujarati language, was administered. Current study observed prevalence of PPD as 48.5% using cutoff score of 10.5 for classifying depression in Gujarati women. Factors associated with depression after multivariable logistic regression were: age of mother, modified Kuppuswami category (MKC) score, family type, violence from husband, gravida, para and sex of infant. PPD has higher prevalence in our study vis-a-vis Western countries. This may be because of early administration of EPDS.

Keywords: EPDS; child health; depression; postpartum.