Postpartum depression – a medical or a social problem?

Abstract

<b>Objective:</b> The aim of the study was to identify a group of women needed psychological support after delivery by identifying the medical and social factors that may influence the emotional changes during the postpartum period.<b>Materials and method:</b> A group of 835 pregnant women in second, third trimester of pregnancy, and during the postpartum period completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the questionnaire consisting of difficulties that might occur in the four life fields: practical, family, emotional, and physical. The calculations have been carried out with the statistical package Statistica v10 and Cytel Studio v 9.0.0. At the Faculty of Information Science and Statistics of the Poznań University of Medical Sciences.<b>Results:</b> There is a series of medical and social risk factors potentially increasing the risk of postpartum depression, such as psychiatric disorders in the past, difficulties in the professional work, unsatisfactory relationship with partner, and others.<b>Conclusions:</b> Having selected a group of women with risk factors it seems reasonable to apply the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale.