Survey the frequency of depression in the last third months of pregnancy

ABSTRACT

Women are vulnerable to mood changes during pregnancy and the postpartum period. According to the current epidemiologic studies, prevalence of prenatal depression varies widely. Estimate the prevalence of depression during the third trimester of pregnancy in women who referred to alzahra hospital in rasht-winter 2007. We studied 415 randomly-selected individuals out of 900 obstetrical women in their third trimester of pregnancy, at the prenatal clinic of Alzahra hospital in Winter 2007.A Beck Depression Inventory [BDI] and a pre-determined form containing some demographic variables were applied to measure the variables of this study. 15 subjects [due to incomplete responses] were excluded from our study. Among 400 obstetrical women participated in this study, 100 women [25%] were suffered from different degrees of depression. There were significant statistical differences between depression and education [p=0.018], occupation [p=0.039] and gravidity [p=0.033]. There were no significant statistical differences between depression and socioeconomic level and age of participants. In our study, the prevalence of depression was similar to some of the other studies, also our findings about the association of depression and education, occupation and gravidity were similar to the other studies but our findings about the association of depression and socioeconomic level and age of the participants were different from the other studies. Use of structural psychiatric interview and analytical methods for determination of the prevalence of prenatal depressive disorder and its relationship with studied variables were recommended