Antenatal depression strongly predicts postnatal depression in primary health care

To estimate the association between antenatal and postnatal depression and to examine the role of socioeconomic conditions in the risk of postnatal depression.

A prospective cohort study, conducted between May 2005 and January 2006, with 831 pregnant women recruited from primary care clinics in the public sector in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The presence of antenatal and postnatal depression was measured with the Self Report Questionnaire (SRQ-20). Sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics and obstetric information were obtained through a questionnaire. Crude and adjusted risk ratios (RR), with 95% CI, were calculated using a Poisson regression.

The prevalence of postnatal depressive symptoms was 31.2% (95%CI: 27.8-34.8%). Among the 219 mothers who had depressive symptoms, nearly 50% had already shown depressive symptoms during pregnancy. Women who had antenatal depression were 2.4 times more likely to present with postnatal depression than were women who did not have such symptoms during pregnancy. In the multivariate analysis, higher scores for assets (RR: 0.76, 95% CI 0.61-0.96), higher education (RR: 0.75 95%CI 0.59-0.96), daily contact with neighbors (RR: 0.68, 95%CI 0.51-0.90) and antenatal depression (RR: 2.44, 95%CI 1.93-3.08) remained independently associated with postnatal depression.

Antenatal and postnatal depression are highly prevalent in the primary care setting.