Background: Maternal mental health is a largely ignored issue in the Indian population. Considering the high prevalence of postpartum depression, mental health assessment and screening of high-risk cases should be a part of routine antenatal care.
Aim: To study the prevalence of women at risk for peripartum depression using Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) score in a tertiary teaching hospital in New Delhi, and to study the associated risk factors in the Indian population.
Method: Five hundred and six (506) peripartum women were interviewed using a structured questionnaire, which included sociodemographic details like socioeconomic status, family structure, relationship with husband and mother-in-law, past obstetric history and gender of children, any history of previous psychiatric illness and outcome of current pregnancy in terms of mode of delivery, gender of newborn and neonatal complications. EPDS scoring was done using a Hindi translated version. Data were analysed using Epi Info version 3.32.
Results: Thirty one (6%) out of 506 women scored ≥ 10 on the EPDS. Birth of female child, nuclear family structure and poor marital relationship were found to have a statistically significant correlation with peripartum depression.
Conclusion: The 6% prevalence of women at risk of peripartum depression in our study, which is similar to other such studies, is significant and hence maternal mental health assessment should be made a part of routine antenatal and postnatal care.