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A Controlled Study of the Onset, Duration and Prevalence of Postnatal Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

John L. Cox ,
Declan Murray  and
Gail Chapman
John L. Cox*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, School of Postgraduate Medicine, Keele University, Staffordshire
Declan Murray
Affiliation:
St Edward's Hospital, Cheddleton, Leek, Staffordshire
Gail Chapman
Affiliation:
North Staffordshire Maternity Hospital, Stoke-on-Trent
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

In a two-stage screening procedure using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and Goldberg's Standardised Psychiatric Interview, 232 women six months after delivery were compared with control women individually matched for age, marital status and number of children, obtained from general practitioner lists, who were not pregnant nor had had a baby in the previous 12 months. No significant difference in the point prevalence of depression at six months was found between the postnatal (9.1%) and control women (8.2%) nor in the six-month period prevalence (13.8% postnatal, 13.4% controls), but a threefold higher rate of onset of depression was found within five weeks of childbirth. The possible explanations relate to the long duration of depression in women with young children, and the stressful effect of childbirth and its psychosocial sequelae.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 163 , Issue 1 , July 1993 , pp. 27 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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