Depressive symptoms and indicators of maternal health status during pregnancy.
OBJECTIVE
Depressive symptoms are common among women, especially those who are of childbearing age or are pregnant. Prior studies have suggested that an increased burden of depressive symptoms is associated with diminished health and functional status, but these studies were primarily of middle-aged and older adults. In the current study, we investigated the relationship between depressive symptoms and health and functional status among pregnant women.


METHODS
Women were enrolled in the study at their first prenatal visit to hospital-based clinics and administered an interview that contained the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) to assess depressive symptoms and several questions to measure overall health status, limitations in performing moderate activities, and limitations in climbing stairs.


RESULTS
The sample included 1163 women. Women with higher levels of depressive symptoms, using cutoff points on the CES-D of either > or =16 (clinically significant) or > or =23 (major depression), had approximately twice the risk of poorer self-reported health and functional status than those with lower scores after adjustment for age, marital status, smoking, education, insurance, trimester, and race.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that an increased burden of depressive symptoms during pregnancy is associated with diminished health status and may offer an explanation for the reported association between depressive symptoms and preterm birth.
Orr
Suezanne T
ST
Department of Health Education and Promotion, College of Health and Human Performance, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27858, USA. orrs@ecu.edu
Blazer
Dan G
DG
James
Sherman A
SA
Reiter
Jerome P
JP
D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008429:Maternal Welfare / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life; D012649:Self Concept; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology