title: Antenatal Depression is Not Associated with Low-Birth Weight: A Study from Urban Pakistan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Low-birth weight (LBW) (<2500 g) is considered to be a leading cause of cognitive impairment and physical disabilities in children. Incidence of LBW in South Asia has been reported to be as high as 33%. We investigated the association between antenatal depression and LBW in an urban community, in Karachi, Pakistan.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1357 pregnant women in their third trimester were recruited into the study. They were screened for antenatal depression with Edinburgh postnatal depression scale. Self-reporting questionnaire was also used to measure psychological distress. Birth weights of 763 newborns were obtained from the hospital records.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We did not find a significant association between antenatal depression and LBW (odds ratio 0.881, 95%CI 0.732-1.060) in mothers attending a charity run hospital in an urban setting in Pakistan.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Antenatal depression is not associated with LBW in this urban population in Pakistan. However, the prevalence of depression is high during pregnancy. There is a need to develop culturally adapted psychosocial interventions to address the high rates of depression for this population group.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Brain, Behavior and Mental Health, University of Manchester , Manchester , UK.
authors.forename: Nusrat
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Husain
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University , Kingston, ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Tariq
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Munshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Medical and Dental College , Karachi , Pakistan ; Harvey House Social Enterprises , Lancaster , UK.
authors.forename: Farhat
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jafri
authors.affiliation: Harvey House Social Enterprises , Lancaster , UK ; Pakistan Institute of Learning and Living , Karachi , Pakistan.
authors.forename: Meher
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Husain
authors.affiliation: Pakistan Institute of Learning and Living , Karachi , Pakistan.
authors.forename: Asia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parveen
authors.affiliation: Pakistan Institute of Learning and Living , Karachi , Pakistan ; Chiniot Maternity Home , Karachi , Pakistan.
authors.forename: Qamar
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Saeed
authors.affiliation: Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Population Health, University of Manchester , Manchester , UK.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tomenson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University , Kingston, ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Farooq
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Naeem
authors.affiliation: Institute of Brain, Behavior and Mental Health, University of Manchester , Manchester , UK.
authors.forename: Nasim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chaudhry
keywords: antenatal depression; depression; developing country; low and middle income countries; low-birth weight; mental health; prenatal depression; prenatal development