Open AccessThe prevalence of depressive symptoms in the postnatal period in Lalitpur district, Nepal
Author(s) -
DØRHEIM HOYEN SIGNE,
TSCHUDI BONDEVIK GUNNAR,
EBERHARDGRAN MALIN,
BJORVATN BJØRN
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
acta obstetricia et gynecologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1600-0412
pISSN - 0001-6349
DOI - 10.1080/00016340600753158
Subject(s) - medicine , depression (economics) , edinburgh postnatal depression scale , mental health , mental distress , population , cross sectional study , distress , depressive symptoms , psychiatry , demography , environmental health , cognition , clinical psychology , pathology , sociology , economics , macroeconomics
Background. Mental disorders are highly prevalent across different cultures and are often associated with serious role impairment. In developing countries, more than three‐quarters of people with serious mental disease do not receive any treatment. Identifying and treating maternal depression is important also in Nepal, where suicide is the second largest cause of deaths among women of reproductive age. The emotional, cognitive, and physical development of the infant is also negatively influenced by maternal depression. Objectives. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms among mothers 5–10 weeks after delivery in a clinical, a rural, and an urban population in Lalitpur district, Nepal. Methods. A total of 426 postnatal women were included in a cross‐sectional structured interview study of mental health. Depressive symptoms were measured by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and mental distress by the Self Report Questionnaire‐20 (SRQ‐20). Results. The overall prevalence of depressive symptoms in the postnatal period (defined as EPDS > 12) was 4.9% (95% CI 2.9–7.0). The prevalence of mental distress (defined as SRQ‐20 > 10) was 3.1% (95% CI 1.4–4.7). There were no significant differences in prevalences among the three populations studied. Conclusions. The prevalence of depressive symptoms in the postnatal period was lower than previously reported from Nepal. The value of possible protective and precipitating factors needs to be explored.