First-case postpartum psychoses in Eastern Turkey: a clinical case and follow-up study.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate the clinicodemographic features and long-term course of postpartum psychosis (PPP).


METHODS
A total of 64 in-patients with psychotic postpartum disorder, who were admitted for the first time to a psychiatry clinic, were reexamined retrospectively and then compared with 64 control patients. Follow-up investigation was carried out either by interviewing the patients personally or with the help of general practitioners (GPs). All patients were rediagnosed according to DSM-IV.


RESULTS
The majority of PPP patients were young, married, primiparae, had a low educational level and were living in rural areas. The mean onset time of PPP after delivery was 3.62 weeks. More than 75% of the patients with PPP had further psychotic episodes during the follow-up period of 11 years; 42% of the puerperal cases were diagnosed as schizophrenia at the follow-up investigation, and 59.3% of the patients had confuso-oneiroid syndrome.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings, unlike those of the Western studies, demonstrate that PPP is not uniform in different populations.
Kirpinar
I
I
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
Coşkun
I
I
Cayköylü
A
A
Anaç
S
S
Ozer
H
H
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D013577:Syndrome; D014421:Turkey