Violence during pregnancy and postpartum depression

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of physical and emotional violence and postpartum depression in a pregnant Iranian population. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional survey. A consecutive sample of women who were routinely referred to health care centers for immunization of their two month infants after delivery were enrolled in this study. They were interviewed by a designated research nurse using the Edinburgh-Postpartum-Depression-Scale (EPDS) and Abused-Assess-Scale (AAS). Results: Nearly two-third of women reported some kind of violence; 59.7% had experienced one or more types of emotional abuse, and 37.0% reported physical violence during the pregnancy. The prevalence of postpartum depression was approximately 45.8%. The highest odds ratio of postpartum depression were associated with husband’s drug abuse, domestic violence, woman’s education. Conclusion: The high prevalence of different types of domestic violence during pregnancy and postpartum depression and their significant relationship should be regarded as a priority for local and possibly National Health Service policy.