Postnatal depression: a study of the predictive effects of postnatal anxiety

The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive effects of anxiety, experienced on the third day after delivery, on postnatal depression, evaluated around the sixth week postpartum.

The subjects were 291 postpartum mothers who responded to a certain number of inclusion criteria. The EPDS (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) and the STAI (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) were used to evaluate the anxious and depressive symptomatology on the third day postpartum and around the sixth week postpartum. The mothers who obtained scores indicating a probable risk of postnatal depression also completed the Beck Depression Inventory.

We observed that 31% of the mothers showed postpartum blues symptomatology on the third day postpartum. Around the sixth week postpartum 13% of the mothers showed postnatal depression. The results suggest that the level of trait anxiety (β = 0.39; t = 3.64 p < 0.05) and more particularly the intensity of the postpartum blues symptomatology (β = 0.50; t = 6.88 p < 0.001) can predict the risk of postpartum depression. Furthermore, 17.9% of the mothers with postnatal depression around the sixth week postpartum were not detected by the EPDS on the third day after delivery. However, all these mothers were detected by the State-Trait anxiety inventory.

A high level of anxiety during the first few days after delivery may contribute to the mothers' risk of developing postnatal depression. The early detection of high anxiety levels may enable the early screening of mothers at risk of developing postnatal depression.