Antenatal depression and its associated factors among women of Godawari Municipality, Lalitpur, Nepal: a cross-sectional study
Anisha Chalise, Gambhir Shrestha, Shishir Paudel, Amod Kumar Poudyal
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of antenatal depression and identify its associated factors among pregnant women of Godawari Municipality, Lalitpur, Nepal. DESIGN: Community-based cross-sectional study. SETTING: Godawari Municipality, Lalitpur, Nepal, between September and November 2021. PARTICIPANTS: 250 randomly selected pregnant women of Godawari Municipality, Lalitpur, Nepal. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: test and multivariate logistic regression analysis were applied to determine the association between antenatal depression and related variables at 95% level of confidence. RESULTS: The prevalence of antenatal depression was found to be 24.8% (95% CI: 19.2 to 30.7). Multigravida (AOR: 2.219, 95% CI: 1.113 to 4.423), unintended pregnancy (AOR: 2.547, 95% CI: 1.204 to 5.388), male sex preference of child by family (AOR: 2.531, 95% CI: 1.204 to 5.321) and intimate partner violence (AOR: 2.276, 95% CI: 1.116 to 4.640) were found to be the positive predictors of antenatal depression. CONCLUSION: This study showed a high prevalence of depression among pregnant women. The results suggest a need for mental health assessment during pregnancy. Screening for depression should be part of routine antenatal checkups for early detection and management of mental health concerns during this vulnerable period.