A six-month follow-up study of maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms among Japanese.
BACKGROUND
Maternal psychological distress has been widely studied, but epidemiologic data based on follow-up studies of maternal psychological distress remain insufficient in Japan. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among child-rearing women in Japan at two time-points after childbirth.


METHODS
A self-administered questionnaire was delivered on two occasions to 2,657 women who had given birth in 2004: first when their infants were 3-4 months old and then again when their infants were 9-10 months old. The questionnaire included the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; Japanese version) to estimate the level of maternal psychological distress.


RESULTS
The total percentage of women with anxiety symptoms as assessed by a HADS score of 8+ was 26.2 % at 3-4 months of age, and 26.1 % at 9-10 months. Among the women without anxiety symptoms at 3-4 months, 11.6 % showed anxiety symptoms at 9-10 months. The total percentage of depressive symptoms was 19.0 % at 3-4 months, and 24.0 % at 9-10 months. Among the women without depressive symptoms at 3-4 months, 14.0 % showed depressive symptoms at 9-10 months.


CONCLUSIONS
Anxiety symptoms in mothers appeared to persist from 3-4 months to 9-10 months after childbirth, while depressive symptoms tended to be more common at 9-10 months after childbirth. Nevertheless, the prevalence of anxiety symptoms was higher than that of depressive symptoms.
Sato
Yuki
Y
Department of Health Policy, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, 2-10-1 Okura, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 157-8535, Japan. yusato@nch.go.jp
Kato
Tadaaki
T
Kakee
Naoko
N
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires