title: Nutritional factors associated with antenatal depressive symptoms in the early stage of pregnancy among urban South Indian women.
abstract: Many women of reproductive age from developing countries have poor nutritional status, and the prevalence of depression during pregnancy is high. The objective of the present study was to assess the prevalence of antenatal depressive symptoms in early pregnancy, and to identify the demographic and nutritional factors associated with these symptoms in a sample of urban South Indian pregnant women. This cross-sectional study was the baseline assessment of a prospective randomized controlled trial of vitamin B12 supplementation in urban pregnant south Indian women between the ages of 18 and 40 years ( www.clinicaltrials.gov : NCT00641862). 365 women in their first trimester of pregnancy were screened for depressive symptoms at an urban clinic in Karnataka, South India, using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10). Nutritional, clinical and biochemical factors were also assessed. Mean (SD) age of the cohort was 22.6 (3.7) years and mean (SD) BMI was 20.4 (3.3) kg/m(2). 121 (33 %) of the women in the 1st trimester had symptoms consistent with depression (K-10 score >6). In multivariate log binomial regression analysis, presence of antenatal depressive symptoms in the first trimester were positively associated with vomiting, prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.54 (95 % CI 1.10, 2.16) and negatively with anemia, PR = 0.67 (95 % CI 0.47, 0.96). Nutrient intakes, serum vitamin B12, methylmalonic acid, homocysteine and red cell folate levels were not associated with measures of depression. Antenatal depressive symptoms in early pregnancy are highly prevalent in urban Indian women and are more common in women with vomiting and without anemia. In this cross-sectional data, blood concentrations of vitamin B12 and folate were not associated with depressive symptoms. The relationship between nutritional status and depressive symptoms may require larger and longitudinal studies.
authors: Division of Nutrition, Mother and Child Unit, St. John's Research Institute, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore, 560034, India.
authors: Ammu
authors: A
authors: Lukose
authors: Division of Nutrition, Mother and Child Unit, St. John's Research Institute, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore, 560034, India.
authors: Asha
authors: A
authors: Ramthal
authors: Division of Nutrition, Mother and Child Unit, St. John's Research Institute, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore, 560034, India.
authors: Tinku
authors: T
authors: Thomas
authors: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: Ronald
authors: R
authors: Bosch
authors: Division of Nutrition, Mother and Child Unit, St. John's Research Institute, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore, 560034, India.
authors: Anura V
authors: AV
authors: Kurpad
authors: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: Christopher
authors: C
authors: Duggan
authors: Division of Nutrition, Mother and Child Unit, St. John's Research Institute, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore, 560034, India. srinivas@sjri.res.in.
authors: Krishnamachari
authors: K
authors: Srinivasan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000740:Anemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D039401:Prenatal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D015995:Prevalence; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014504:Urban Health; D014839:Vomiting / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult