Depression during pregnancy: prevalence and risk factors among women attending a public health clinic in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / Depressão durante a gravidez: prevalência e fatores de risco em mulheres atendidas em uma unidade básica de saúde na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Depression is the most prevalent psychiatric disorder during pregnancy and is associated with psychosocial and clinical obstetric factors. Despite being an important public health issue, there are few studies about this issue in Brazil. A cross-sectional study was carried out, involving 331 pregnant women attending a public primary health service over a one-year period in Rio de Janeiro city, Brazil. Participants were interviewed about their socio-demographic status, obstetric/medical conditions, life events and violence during pregnancy. Depression was assessed using the Composite International Development Interview. The prevalence of depression during pregnancy was 14.2 percent (95 percentCI: 10.7-18.5) and associated factors included: previous history of depression and any psychiatric treatment, unplanned pregnancy, serious physical illness and casual jobs. These data emphasize the need for screening for depression and its risk factors during pregnancy in settings where care is available. Psychosocial interventions and social policies need to be devised for this population.

A depressão é o transtorno mental de maior prevalência durante a gravidez e está associada a fatores psicossociais e clínicos/obstétricos. Apesar de ser uma importante questão de Saúde Pública, há poucos estudos sobre o tema no Brasil. Trata-se de um estudo seccional com 331 gestantes atendidas durante o período de um ano na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. As participantes foram entrevistadas sobre características sócio-demográficas, condições médicas/obstétricas, eventos estressantes e violência durante a gravidez. A depressão foi avaliada através do Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). A prevalência da depressão na gravidez foi 14,2 por cento (IC95 por cento: 10,7-18,5), sendo os fatores associados: história anterior de depressão e de tratamento psiquiátrico, gravidez não-planejada, problema físico grave e trabalho informal. Os resultados reforçam a necessidade de rastreamento da depressão e dos fatores de risco durante o cuidado pré-natal. Além disso, intervenções psicossociais e políticas sociais necessitam ser implementadas nesta população.

Un ensayo clínico aleatorizado de farmacoterapia con monitorización telefónica para mejorar el tratamiento de la depresión en la atención primaria en Santiago, Chile / A randomized trial of pharmacotherapy with telephone monitoring to improve treatment of depression in primary care in Santiago, Chile

Background: Depression is a public health problem, due to its high prevalence and its associated disability. Aim: To compare a pharmacological intervention for depression controlled by phone from a central level (TM) and the usual treatment (TH) in a randomized clinical trial. Material and methods: Three hundred and forty five women, aged 22 to 59 years were studied. They were randomly assigned to receive the usual therapy or a pharmacological intervention with periodical telephone contacts with medical collaboration personnel, to reinforce compliance with treatment and educate about the disease. Women were blindly evaluated at 3 and 6 months with the Hamilton depression rating score (HDRS) and the SF-36 to assess depressive symptoms and quality of life, respectively. Results: In both evaluations, improvement was significantly greater in the TM group than the TH group. At 3 months, improvement was higher in the TM group in the subscales of physical function, pain, general health, energy, emotional role, mental health and standardized physical and psychic scales of SF-36. At 6 months, this significant difference in favour of TM was maintained for energy, mental health and the standardized psychic scale. Conclusions: A telephone reinforcement improves the outcomes of treatments for depression.

¿Cómo es la salud mental de los hijos de madres deprimidas consultantes a servicios de atención primaria? / Psychopathology and social functioning among offspring of depressed women

Background: Offspring of depressive parents have two times more risk of developing a depression, other psychiatric diseases or a poor social functioning. Aim: To assess psychopathology and social functioning among offspring of currently depressed mothers. Material and methods: We enrolled 290 depressed mother-child pairs in five primary-care clinics in Santiago. A two-stage screening process to identify female primary-care patients with current major depressive illness with children aged 6-16 years, was used. AH eligible and consenting patients were asked to complete the general health questionnaire (GHQ-12). Those scoring 5 or more were invited to participate in a baseline assessment. The final sample consisted of 290 mother-child pairs. Patients with a current DSM-IV diagnosis of major depression were eligible unless they had current psychotic symptoms, imminent suicide risk, history of mania, or current alcohol abuse. Child psychopathology was assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), a highly reliable and widely used parent-rated checklist to assess competencies and behavioural and emotional problems in children 4 to 18 years of age. Results: Fifty percent (95 percent confidence interval (CI): 43.9-55.7) of children had overall CBCL psychopathology scores in clinical range. Internalizing symptoms were more prevalent than externalizing symptoms (62.2 percent [9596CI: 56.3-67.8] and 35.7 percent [9596CI: 30.2-41.5]. Conclusions: A large proportion of children of depressed poor mothers attending primary care clinics in Chile, had psychopathological symptom scores in the clinical range, with a predominance of internalizing symptoms. These results are similar to those previously reported in the United States of America.