Study finds high level of pregnant women depressed in Lahore

Photo: University of Minnesota School of Public Health A study has found that 40% of 450 pregnant women who came to Lahore’s Shalamar Hospital in their last trimester were depressed. The study was published in the Pakistan Journal Medical Sciences March-April 2019. It was titled ‘Prevalence of antenatal depression among women receiving antenatal care during last trimester of pregnancy in a tertiary care private institute of Lahore’. The questionnaire was administered to 450 pregnant females in their last trimester (above 28 weeks). Shalamar Hospital is a private tertiary care institution. The study was conducted during May 2017 to June 2018. The researchers used the Goldberg's depression scale in Urdu. Wherever needed, the data collection team read the questionnaire out aloud to the women. According to the Goldberg Depression Scale, 184 of women who came seeking antenatal care in the private tertiary care institution suffered from depression. Pregnancy and depression affect each other. The main objective of the study was to find the frequency of antenatal depression during the last trimester and associated risk factors. It alerted health care providers to the fact that pregnant women do not always have the support they need. The study indicates that there may be a general trend that health care providers and families should be aware of. The researchers found 30.4% (137), 8.67% (39) and 1.78% (8) women suffered from mild, moderate and severe depression, respectively. The associations between passive smoking, family history of preeclampsia and depression among family members were significant.