Prevalence and Factors Associated with Postpartum Depression among Women Attending Primary Health Care Centers in Al-Madina, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Symptoms and risk factors for postpartum depression (PPD, postnatal depression) may vary across culturally diverse women with different causes e.g. giving birth to a female child, lack of breast-feeding, and consanguinity. The reported incidence of PPD among samples of Arabic women ranges from 10% to 37%. In this study, we investigated a sample of mothers (n=216) attending the primary health care centers in Al-Madina, Saudi Arabia. Data acquisition was done via a cross-sectional design. Ethical committee approval was taken and participation in the study was optional. Herein, we report that PPD prevalence in this sample was 19.4% using the Arabic version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) with a cut-off score of ≥ 12. Our study included mothers of different age groups: 40 years. Majority of investigated women were in the age group 20-30 years (60.2%, n= 130). Primiparous women were at almost double-folded risk of getting PPD compared to multiparous women (adjusted OR=1.91; 95% CI: 1.01-3.38). Women who delivered by normal vaginal method were more likely to have PPD compared to those delivered by cesarean section (Adjusted OR=3.11; 95% CI: 1.35-7.16) (Table 7). However, PPD was not significantly associated with the presence of mothers of delivering women during their confinement. Vast majority of investigated women had a regular marital life (90.6%, n=196) i.e. not widows or divorced and were house wives (79.6, n = 172). There was no significant association between PPD and women`s age or women`s family income. Compared to non-working women, those working were at slightly higher risk for PPD. However, this was also not statistically significant. Likewise, mothers’ history of depression was not associated with having postnatal depression. Moreover, PPD was not associated with regular marital status or the level of education. The relatively low number of investigated cases in our study may be limitation. More future research studies are warranted.