The prevalence of depression in south african pregnant women

Background: The prevalence of perinatal or maternal mental health is an important national and international problem. The occurrence of the antenatal depression (AD) in the world population is 10.7% and in low-and-middle income countries (LMIC) like South Africa has elevated up to 20 to 40%. In South Africa at the present the screening for mental illness in pregnant mothers is not present. Therefore, the incidence rates of the South African population and probability part of maternal mental health conditions of AD, with specificity to the Gauteng province are very poorly reported. Method: The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was applied in the sample of 436 pregnant women that were recruited from five primary care clinics in the central and south of Johannesburg, during the attendance of the routine antenatal visits. Additionally, all females completed a socio-demographic questionnaire. Results: The findings of the current study show 31.3% prevalence of AD in the 436 pregnant female’s sample. The pregnant females with presence of the one or more medical conditions were almost twice as probable to have AD than pregnant females with no presence of the medical condition (p < 0.02). Furthermore, poor social support in the pregnant females presented five times more probability to have AD compared to pregnant females with respectable social support (p < 0.002). The factors that were not significantly associated with AD were employment, level of education, marital status, unplanned pregnancy and intimate partner violence (IPV). The EPDS results report that a third of the pregnant women attending antenatal care (ANC) services in primary care clinics were depressed based on the EPDS without clinical confirmation. Conclusion: The current study has highlighted the importance of incorporation of mental health upkeep with present maternal health systems. To decrease the adverse maternal and infant consequences related to maternal mental illnesses the routine screening of mental illness of the pregnant females during the perinatal period should be introduced.