title: Predictors of maternal psychological distress in rural India: a cross-sectional community-based study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Maternal common mental disorders are prevalent in low-resource settings and have far-reaching consequences for maternal and child health. We assessed the prevalence and predictors of psychological distress as a proxy for common mental disorders among mothers in rural Jharkhand and Orissa, eastern India, where over 40% of the population live below the poverty line and access to reproductive and mental health services is low.
  
  
  METHODS
  We screened 5801 mothers around 6 weeks after delivery using the Kessler-10 item scale, and identified predictors of distress using multiple hierarchical logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  11.5% (95% CI: 10.7-12.3) of mothers had symptoms of distress (K10 score >15). High maternal age, low asset ownership, health problems in the antepartum, delivery or postpartum periods, caesarean section, an unwanted pregnancy for the mother, small perceived infant size and a stillbirth or neonatal death were all independently associated with an increased risk of distress. The loss of an infant or an unwanted pregnancy increased the risk of distress considerably (AORs: 7.06 95% CI: 5.51-9.04 and 1.49, 95% CI: 1.12-1.97, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We did not collect data on antepartum depression, domestic violence or a mother's past birth history, and were therefore unable to examine the importance of these factors as predictors of psychological distress.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mothers living in underserved areas of India who experience infant loss, an unwanted pregnancy, health problems in the perinatal and postpartum periods and socio-economic disadvantage are at increased risk of distress and require access to reproductive healthcare with integrated mental health interventions.
authors.affiliation: UCL Centre for International Health and Development, Institute of Child Health, University College London, UK. Audrey.prost@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Prost
authors.forename: Rashmi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lakshminarayana
authors.forename: Nirmala
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: Prasanta
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tripathy
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Copas
authors.forename: Rajendra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mahapatra
authors.forename: Shibanand
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rath
authors.forename: Raj Kumar
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Gope
authors.forename: Suchitra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rath
authors.forename: Aparna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bajpai
authors.forename: Vikram
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Costello
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008016:Life Change Events; D016015:Logistic Models; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011203:Poverty; D015995:Prevalence; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012424:Rural Population; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult