EFFECT OF MATERNAL DEPRESSION DURING PREGNANCY ON BIRTH WEIGHT OF BABIES

Maternal Depression And Child Development

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of low birth weight (LBW) babies amongst women who suffer from prenatal depression during 3rd trimester of pregnancy by comparing with control in a military care setup.
Study Design: Prospective cohort study.
Place and Duration of Study: Study was conducted in Armed Forces Institute of Mental Health (AFIMH) in collaboration with the Department of Gynecology, Military Hospital (MH) Rawalpindi and completed in six months from Mar 2012 to Sep 2012.
Material and Methods: Consecutive non-probability sampling was done. Sample size of 172 cases was calculated by World Health Organization (WHO) calculator. Level of significance was 5%, confidence interval 95%, relative risk 2.2 and power of test was 80%.
Results: Total 172 cases were enrolled predominantly between 26-30 years i.e. 45.35% (n=39) in cases and 47.67% (n=41) in controls, confidence level was 95% and relative risk was 2.2, mean and SD calculated was 28.32 ± 3.43 in cases and 27.87 ± 3.16 years in controls, mean birth score (in grams) of the neonates was 2192.302 ± 114.22 in cases and 2629.744 ± 75.33 in controls, comparison of frequency of low birth weight revealed 39.53% (n=34) in cases and 17.44% (n=15) in controls had low birth weight while 60.47% (n=52) in cases and 82.56% (n=71) in control subjects had normal birth weight, Relative risk of outcome variable was 2.23. A p-value of 0.001 showed a significant difference between the two groups.
Conclusion: Frequency of LBW babies amongst women who suffer from depression during 3rd trimester by comparing with control is found to be higher.