Social and obstetric risk factors of antenatal depression: A cross-sectional study from South-India

Antenatal depression is as prevalent as postpartum depression and studies on it are very few. It has been relatively neglected leading to adverse effects on the growing child as well as the mother. Hence screening of depression in high risk individuals, planning and adopting important strategies for prevention needs to be undertaken. Our study aimed to assess the modifiable social and obstetric risk factors of antenatal depression.

Third trimester pregnant women of 18-40 years attending obstetric out-patient department and admitted in tertiary hospitals who had no past psychiatric illness were screened using Edinburgh postnatal depression scale after obtaining written consent, socio-demographic and obstetric details. Statistical analysis was calculated using IBM version SPSS 23.

Among 222 women recruited, 25.6% had antenatal depression. Significant associations were found between lower level of education (p = 0.02,O.R=1.87), urban population (p = 0.04,O.R=5.139), intimate partner violence (p = 0.01,O.R=15.769), daily alcohol use by husband (p < 0.00,O.R=15.281), poor relationship with in-laws (p < 0.000,O.R=21.733) and parents (p < 0.000,O.R=15.281), number of previous pregnancies (p = 0.026,O.R=5.545), parity (p = 0.04,O.R=4.187), previous abortions (p = 0.007,O.R=2.834), fear of labour (p < 0.000,O.R=5.77) and complications during pregnancy (p < 0.000,O.R=3.017) with antenatal depression. Living in urban area (p = 0.023, A.O.R=3.132), fear of labour (p < 0.000, A.O.R=7.398), intimate partner violence (p = 0.026, A.O.R=36.655), poor relationship with in-laws (p = 0.001, A.O.R=36.855) and parents (p = 0.042, A.O.R=8.377) were found to be predictors of antenatal depression.

Antenatal depression is multifactorial in origin and requires a multifactorial approach in prevention and treatment. Routine antenatal screening for depression must be conducted with efforts to build strong family, peer and social support at community level.