Study of Prevalence of Depression in Perinatal Period in a Cohort of Pregnant Women in South India

Background: Antenatal depression significantly contributes to the psychiatric morbidity during pregnancy and adverse obstetric and neonatal outcomes. Frequently, depression during pregnancy can remain undetected. Distinguishing symptoms of depression from normal responses to stressful experiences of pregnancy can be difficult. Aim: To study the prevalence of depression in the perinatal period in a cohort of pregnant women visiting the obstetrics clinic at a medical college in south India. Methodology:  This was a prospective study done during women’s antenatal and postpartum period starting from 5months to 6 weeks postpartum. EPDS scale was used for screening for depressive symptoms in this cohort and those with scores of above 10 were included in the study. Then MINI interview was carried out and those who fulfilled DSM IV criteria for major depressive disorder were identified. Data analysis was done using SPSS-21 version. Descriptive analyses were carried out for the categorical variables by calculating the number and frequency. The continuous variables were calculated for mean and standard deviation. Results: It was found out that 7 of the 82 or 8.5% women had depression in the antenatal period; 4 cases in Antenatal  visit1 and  3 during second Antenatal visit at 9 months of pregnancy. In the postpartum, 9 of the 82 were found to show depression (6 in PP1 and 3 in PP2). Depression in Postpartum period was seen in 10.9% of the sample studied. None of the Antenatal depression patients showed depression during their assessment in postpartum period. Conclusion: The prevalence of depression in the sample of patients attending obstetric clinic spanning from 5 months of pregnancy upto 6 weeks postpartum was 19.5 %. Thus it is important to screen for depressive symptoms in pregnancy which could, in turn, influence obstetric and neonatal outcomes.