1ASHA MAHESH, 2HAZIM BROHI, 1AREEJ SALIM, 1TASMIA ABEER, 1FAHAD SHABBIR

ABSTRACT

Background: Postpartum affective illness which includes depression and psychosis puts both the mother and infant at risk and may result in significant long-term effects on child development and behavior. Early recognition helps in treating such patients and improving child and mother health. Our study aim was to study the frequency of post partum depression and its associated risk factors in women visiting a tertiary care pediatric hospital, in Karachi.
Materals and Methods: The study is a cross-sectional survey; EPDS scoring system was used for analysis of existence of depression.
Results: Postpartum depression has a positive association (p value <0.000) with pre-pregnancy depression and ante-partum depression. It also had a strong association with husband cooperation and unwanted pregnancy.
Conclusion: The prevalence of post partum depression is high in our country, the reason for which could be due to high prevalence of pre pregnancy depression in women. Early screening may be helpful in detecting PPD.

For Full text contact to:
Prof. Dr. Farah Mansuri
editor@annals-ashkmdc.org

1Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Jinnah Medical College Hospital Karachi
2Department of Neurology, Jinnah Medical College Hospital