Prevalence and Associated Factors of Antenatal Depression among Women Attending Antenatal Care Service at Gondar University Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Depression is the most prevalent psychiatric disorder during pregnancy and is associated with psychosocial and clinical obstetric factors. Depressive disorders are not only common and chronic among women throughout the world but also principal sources of disability. The scarce information and limited attention to the problem might aggravate the consequence of the problem and can limit the intervention to be taken. Therefore, the current study was conducted to determine the prevalence and identify associated factors for antenatal depression.

METHODS: Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted by taking a sample of 388 pregnant women coming for ANC service at Gondar University Hospital. Systematic random sampling technique was employed to recruit the study participants. Structured, pretested and interview administered questionnaire was used to collect related information while Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to assess individuals`depression condition. A cut off point with high sensitivity and specificity was determined and internal consistency of the tool was checked (Cronbach alpha = 0.82). Ep Info V. 2002 and STATA 12 were used for data entry and analyses, respectively. Adjusted Odds Ratio with its 95% CI was used to declare the statistical significance of the factors.

RESULTS: Depression among pregnant women was found to be 23% (95%CI: 18.48%, 26.86%). Factors significantly associated with depression were: woman`s age (20 to 29, AOR = 0.18,95% CI:0.07,0.49), occupation (housewife, AOR = 2.57,95%CI:1.21,5.46, merchant and daily laborers, AOR = 3.44 (1.38,8.58), previous pregnancy (No, AOR = 4.74,95% CI:1.58,14.17) and previous ANC follow up pattern (irregular, AOR = 11.43,95% CI:3.68,35.49), no follow up, AOR = 11.98, 95% CI:4.73,30.33).

CONCLUSION: Depression symptoms are common in pregnant mothers in the study area and interventions that would address the aforementioned factors would benefit to tackle further complications.