Prevalence of post partum depression among women with high risk factors

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to identify the high risk factors for depression among pregnant women and to detect the postpartum depression among those with high risk factors. The sample consisted of 882 Egyptian women registering for antenatal clinics at the Health Center and the University Hospital. Forty-two mothers were lost for follow up for various reasons and the remaining number of the mothers consented to complete the tools for data collection. A structured interview questionnaire sheet for personal and medical information, life event stress sheet to detect the different levels of stress and an Arabic version of the Beck Depression Inventory to assess postpartum depression were used for data collection. The findings revealed that 620 mothers had risk factors for developing postpartum depression. The prevalence of postpartum depression among mothers with risk factors was 11.1, also some risk factors were found out to make the mothers more exposed to the postpartum depression. From these factors, life event stress, history of depression, low income level and medical serious diseases