Unplanned pregnancy and risk of maternal depression: secondary data analysis from a prospective pregnancy cohort

to evaluate the relationship between unplanned pregnancy (UP), a common problem in high and low income countries and maternal depression (MD).

Secondary analysis of data from a prospective cohort study with pregnant women recruited from 10 primary care clinics of the public sector in São Paulo, Brazil. Participants were questioned about pregnancy intention at 20-30 weeks of gestation. The Self Report Questionnaire score >7 was used to evaluated the presence of depression during pregnancy and 11 months after childbirth. Four groups of MD were defined: never; antenatal only; postnatal only; persistent (both antenatal/postnatal). Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between UP and MD, controlling for confounding.

Data were analysed for 701 at the postpartum period. Five hundred and sixty-two (67.8%) women did not plan the pregnancy. Women with UP had 2.5 more risk of being depressed during both assessments (during pregnancy and postpartum) when compared to women with a planned pregnancy (RR: 2.5; 95% CI: 1.47:4.30). In the adjusted models, women with UP were significantly more likely to have persistent depression (RR: 2.3; 95% CI: 1.2:4.3).

UP is an independent risk factor for persistent depression, but not for postpartum depression.