title: Prevalence of postnatal depression in Western Nigerian women: a controlled study.
abstract: Objective The objective of this study is to compare the prevalence of depression in postpartum women and that of non-postpartum women. Method A total of 876 women recruited at 6 weeks postpartum and 900 matched non-postpartum women were administered the Beck's Depressive Inventory (BDI) and translated local version of the EPDS. Psychiatric diagnosis was made using the using the modified non-patient version of Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID-NP). Results Depressive disorder was diagnosed in 128 (14.6%) of the postpartum women and in 55 (6.3%) of the non-postpartum women, and the difference was found to be significant (t=8.919, df=875, P<0.001). The postpartum women had higher EPDS and BDI scores than the non-postpartum women. The EPDS correlated well with the SCID-NP diagnosis with a Spearman's correlation of 0.600 (P<0.001) and with the BDI score with a Spearman's correlation of 0.461 (P<0.001). The sensitivity of the EPDS at cut-off score of 8/9 was 94% and specificity was 97%. Conclusion The prevalence of postnatal depression in Nigeria is comparable to that of the western world and the Yoruba version of EPDS is a valid instrument for screening postnatal women for depressive disorders in a Nigerian community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa, 233001, Osun State, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Abiodun O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Adewuya
authors.forename: Adekunle B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Eegunranti
authors.forename: Adejare M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Lawal
keywords: Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; Postnatal depression; sensitivity, specificity; validation