Evaluation of postpartum depression risk and associated factors in primary care

Aim: Postpartum depression is a major depressive episode that is not psychotic and occurs within one year after birth. Postpartum depression is a significant public health problem as it can have serious consequences for both mother and baby and the whole family. In our study, it was aimed to determine the risk of postpartum depression and to evaluate the sociodemographic risk factors in women with 0-12 months old babies who applied to primary health care institutions. Method: Our study was carried out with 196 participants as a cross-sectional, descriptive study in family health centers in three different regions in Trabzon between July 2020 and January 2021. The demographic information questionnaire and the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) was applied to the volunteer participants by face-to-face interview technique. Participants with an EPDS score of ≥13 were considered to have increased PPD risk. Results: The median EPDS score of the participants was 4.00 (0.00-26.00). In our study, the risk of postpartum depression was found to be 16.3% (n=32). In addition, early marriage age, low monthly income, unemployed spouse, having more than one child, unplanned pregnancy, history of hospitalization of the baby in intensive care unit, history of illness in the baby, poor relationship with spouse, insufficient spouse support during pregnancy, history of depression or postpartum depression, smoking during pregnancy and the presence of a stressor in mother's life were associated with the increased postpartum depression risk (p<0.05). Conclusion: In our study, it was observed that approximately 1 out of 6 women was at risk of postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is one of the important psychiatric diseases for primary health care workers that reduces the quality of life of the mother. Therefore, women should be evaluated during the postpartum period and followed psychosocially considering the risk factors associated with postpartum depression.