Mental disorders during pregnancy and postpartum in Bangladesh: A narrative review

Bangladesh has made significant progress in declining maternal mortality in recent decades. However, the available evidence on the various maternal mental disorders in the country has not been comprehensively and critically reviewed to date. This narrative review aimed to assess the mental disorders and associated factors during pregnancy and postpartum in Bangladesh.

A thorough search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Google, Google Scholar, and BanglaJOL with search terms at the end of January 2024 to identify the original articles published on psychiatric morbidities during pregnancy and postpartum.

This review included 28 empirical studies published between 2007 and 2023 with a sample size ranging from 100 to 39,434. Two studies were published before 2010, 16 studies were published between 2011 and 2020, and 10 studies were published between 2021 and 2023. No countrywide study was noted, the Bangla Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS-B) was used in 57% of studies, suicidal behavior was assessed in three studies, postpartum depression (PPD) was featured in 16 studies, and three qualitative studies were noted. The prevalence of PPD ranged from 9% to 51.7%. About 46% of mothers had positive scores for common mental disorders. The prevalence of mental disorders was 14.2%; among them mood disorders were present at 6.1% and psychoses were noted at 4.5%.

There are wide variations in the prevalence of maternal mental disorders in Bangladesh from study to study; a lower prevalence was noted when diagnostic tools were used even though no nationwide study with confirmatory diagnostic tools was noted. Studies with nationwide distribution and diagnostic tools are warranted to understand the problem precisely.