RESUMO
Ante-natal depression has received little attention in the literature, it may go undiagnosed because of a focus on maternal and fetal well-being and the attribution of complaints to the physical and hormonal changes associated with pregnancy. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the impact of ante-natal depression on pregnancy outcomes. An exploratory prospective study done on subjects of 220 pregnant women in their last trimester during their antenatal visit at EL-Shatby Maternity Hospital, the subjects are interviewed individually throughout a period of six months from January to June 2008. A structured questionnaire, Mood/ depression assessment questioner and Beck Inventory Depression scale are used for data collection. The results showed that 38.6% of the study subjects had no depression during their pregnancies, while the rest of them who represented the larger proportion had depression with varying degree [mild 22.3%, moderate 22.7% and severe 16.4%]. A significant association was found between ante-natal maternal depression and adverse pregnancy outcomes such as cesarean section, premature labor and low birth weight babies. The study concluded that antenatal depression is a common problem with prevalence probably higher than that reported in literature. Woman's socio-demographic characteristics including, age, level of education, her past history of marital conflicts, domestic violence, history of miscarriages, and complications in previous pregnancies are some of the significant risk factors for ante-natal depression. Ante-natal depression also leads to a high risk of adverse obstetric and neonatal outcomes