Objective: To examine the prevalence and predictors of postpartum depression in Songklanagarind Hospital.
Material and Methods: Two hundred and fifty three puerperal women who had a postpartum check up at Songklanakarind Hospital from November 2001 to April 2002.
Data collection: A self-administered questionnaire, obtaining socio-demographic characteristics, reproductive history, obstetric characteristics, and a Thai version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used.
Result: The prevalence of postpartum depression according to the Thai version EPDS at the 4th-6th week postpartum was 9.5%. Bivariate analyses revealed nine factors significantly associated with postpartum depression: religion, medical payment, unhappy feeling towards pregnancy, chronic disease during this pregnancy, history of psychiatric disease, chronic disease during puerperium, obstetrical complication, infant congenital diseases and infant health during the preceding week. Adjusting for other variables in a multivariate logistic regression model, feeling towards pregnancy (OR = 3.54, 95% CI = 1.36-9.17) and infant health during the preceding week (OR = 7.14, 95% CI = 1.54-33.3) were the significant factors predicting postpartum depression. If chronic disease during puerperium was included, this (OR = 7.14, 95% CI = 1.72-25.0) and infant health during the preceding week (OR = 5.88, 95% CI = 1.20-25.0) were the main significant factors predicting postpartum depression.
Conclusion: 9.5% of puerperal women suffered from depression. The significant predicting factors of postpartum depression were feeling towards pregnancy, chronic disease during puerperium and infant's health during the preceding week.