The Prevalence of Depression and Associated Factors among Primigravid Women

Aims: Depression during pregnancy has a significant impact on both mother and fetus. This study aimed to determine the frequency of depression and associated factors among primigravid women. Materials Methods: This was a crosssectional study involving 255 pregnant women attending a hospital in Tehran from October 2017 to February 2018. A demographic and clinical questionnaire, the Postpartum Depression Literacy Scale (PoDLiS) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), given to a convenient sample of primigravid women attending the antenatal clinic, were completed. chisquare test, ttest and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the data and SPSS version 22.0 was used for its analysis (p 0.05). Findings: The prevalence of depression during pregnancy was 17.3% (n=255). The results of the ttest and chisquare test showed that depression was significantly associated with age (p=0.008), marriage age (p=0.018), economic status (p=0.050), family history of depression (p 0.001), marital satisfaction (p 0.001), ability to recognize postpartum depression (p=0.019) and attitudes about postpartum depression (p=0.042). Further analysis by logistic regression analysis revealed that family history of depression [AOR=7.89, 95% CI, p=0.002] and less satisfaction with husband [AOR=3.24, 95% CI, p=0.021] was significantly associated with depression. Conclusion: The findings showed that a high percentage of women were depressed. Also, having a family history of depression and less satisfied with the husband were the strongest factors related to depression. It seems that educational interventions and counseling may need to be conducted on highrisk mothers to promote their mental health status.