Prenatal Depression and Spontaneous Preterm Birth: A cross sectional study among women of Dhaka Community Medical College and Hospital

Abstract

Depression and Pre-term birth are the most important and serious health problem now a days. For decades, while infectious diseases have had the attention of the global health agenda, non-communicable diseases have received little attention. Preterm delivery, which occurs in approximately 5% to 10% of all births, is the leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. This cross-sectional study was conducted with the aim to determine the depression and spontaneous preterm birth among 275 women of Dhaka Community Medical College and Hospital during January to June 2011. Results show, 44.7% of the respondents are in the age group >20 years. Among others 32% and 23.3% of the respondents respectively are in the age group 20-25 years and <20 years. 70.5% of the respondents belong to Islam religion. At the most 45.5% of the respondents are illiterate and 59.3% of the respondents are housewife and rest of them service holder. Most of the respondents were live in extended family (60.4%). Out of 275 respondents, the number of depressed women was 67.3% where as non depressed women were 32.7%.Women categorized as depressed 56.2% had 1-2 children, vaginal bleeding in 3rd trimester were most commonly seen in 82.7% of them and were more frequently hospitalized during the third trimester. Gestational hypertension and Polyhydramnios were less prone to depressed women. There is a highly significant relationship of depression with parity of women (P=0.00), vaginal bleeding in 3rd trimester of pregnancy. (P=0.00). Also there is a significant relationship of depression with hospitalization of 2nd trimester of pregnancy (P=.038) hospitalization of 3rd trimester of pregnancy (P=0.020) among the women of Dhaka Community Medical College and Hospital.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jdnmch.v17i2.12216

J. Dhaka National Med. Coll. Hos. 2011; 17 (02): 44-48