Abstract

Dr. Ali Sibtain Azhar*, Dr. Arslan Ahmed and Dr. Areeba Fatima

ABSTRACT

Background: A women during and after pregnancy passes through different physiological and psychological changes. There are many social factors that influences pregnancy and childbirth in positive or negative way. Attitudes toward pregnancy and childbirth vary from culture to culture. Postnatal depression can affect health of among many mothers. Aim of study: To determine frequency of postnatal depression, among patients presenting at Nishtar Hospital Multan. Methodology: It is a Cross Sectional Study conducted at Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Nishtar Hospital Multan. Duration of the study was 4 month from January 2018 to April 2018. Two hundred 6-12 weeks postnatal women were enrolled in the study. Participants were screened for postnatal depression using Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). The results were analyzed through SPSS version 21. Frequency of depression was presented as percentage. Results: The mean age of the postnatal recruited women was 22.5±5.20 years. In this study we found that 64 (32%) women were having postnatal depression. Out of these 200 candidates, majority of the women 170 (85%) were multigravida and 30 (15%) were Primigravida. Frequency of depression was 9 (28%) among Primigravida 56 (32.9%) among Multigravida. Among multigravida, 78 (45.8%) women had three or more than three children. Common risk factors in our study were poor socioeconomic status 65%, female gender newborn 63%, all female children 58%, lack of social support 68% and joint family 23%. Conclusion: We concluded that almost 1/3rd of the study participants were having postnatal depression. Postpartum depression is an important clinical, economic and social problem which mostly goes undetected unless routine screening during pregnancy and in postpartum period is performed. Since postnatal depression had adverse consequences for the mother and her newborn baby therefore effective preventive strategy by the health care professionals for early detection and management is needed. In addition to, awareness, de-stigmatization and cautious measures should be taken in the community to prevent this illness.