Antenatal depression and its correlates on northwestern Ethiopian women: community-based cross-sectional study

Introduction: mental health during pregnancy is a very important but neglected problem in most African countries including Ethiopia. In general, there was a scarce of studies on antenatal depression at the community level in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was aimed at assessing the prevalence and correlates of antenatal depression among postpartum women in Gondar city, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: a community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Gondar city among 526 women from July 01st to 30th/2018. A cluster sampling technique was employed and an interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire was utilized to collect the data. The data were entered into Epi-info version 7.0 and exported to SPSS version 20. Both bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. The level of statistical significance was declared based on the AOR with 95% CI and P-value <= 0.05. Results: the prevalence of ante partum depression was 24.1% (95% CI: 20.5-27.5) and it was independently predicted by relatives' mental illness (AOR = 2.30; 95% CI: 1.17-4.53), sex preference (AOR = 1.80; 95% CI: 1.07-3.02), lack of relatives' support (AOR = 2.07; 95% CI: 1.12-3.87), unhappy marriage (AOR = 2.94; 95% CI: 1.81-4.76), history of depression (AOR = 5.23; 95% CI: 2.87-9.50) and no or one alive child (AOR = 1.78; 95% CI: 1.13-2.79). Conclusion: the prevalence of ante partum depression was high and connected to poor psycho-social experiences. Therefore, building-up of family's network, fortifying relatives' support, resolving unhappy spousal relationships, and assuming early screening and intervention would degrade its burden.