A prevalence study of antenatal depression among Chinese women.
BACKGROUND
There has thus far been no empirical research on the occurrence of antenatal psychiatric morbidity in Chinese population. Epidemiological studies in western societies generally show that depressive episodes occur in 10-20% of pregnant women. Longitudinal studies have demonstrated that antenatal depression is one of the most powerful predictors of postnatal depression. There is also a growing literature that shows that antenatal psychological distress can adversely affect maternal and foetal well being.


METHODS
At 38 weeks of pregnancy, 238 consecutive women were invited to return for psychiatric assessment. The participants were interviewed using the non-patient version of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-NP).


RESULTS
Seventy women (29%) declined to participate, and another 11 (5%) defaulted the SCID interview. Among the 157 women interviewed, the 1-month prevalence of antenatal depression was 4.4%. The 1-month prevalence of all psychiatric diagnoses was 6.4%. The prevalence of antenatal depression and all psychiatric diagnoses for the entire pregnancy was 6.4% and 8.3%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
About a third of eligible subjects did not participate in the study.


CONCLUSIONS
A significant proportion of Chinese women suffer from psychiatric morbidity during pregnancy. Depressive disorders are by far the commonest morbidity in the study population. Given the scope of the morbidity and the potential impact on obstetric and neonatal outcomes, early screening and treatment are warranted.
Department of Psychiatry, G/Fl. Multi-Center, Tai Po Hospital, NT, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. tak_lee@hms.harvard.edu <tak_lee@hms.harvard.edu>
Dominic T S
DT
Lee
Sandra S M
SS
Chan
Daljit S
DS
Sahota
Alexander S K
AS
Yip
Michelle
M
Tsui
Tony K H
TK
Chung
D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009017:Morbidity; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000523:psychology*; D015995:Prevalence