No abstract

Background: About one in five women suffer from postpartum depression, placing it the leading complication during childbirth. Oxytocin has been suggested to play a key role in modulating maternal behaviour and stress-related disorders. However, there is little evidence to support its role in predicting postpartum depression. Our aim is to investigate the relationship between serum oxytocin level in the third trimester and early-onset postpartum depression symptoms and whether oxytocin is capable of predicting postpartum depression symptoms.Methods: A total of 172 healthy pregnant women participated in this cross-sectional descriptive study. The serum oxytocin level was measured between 34 and 37 weeks. A validated Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used to assess symptoms of depression four to six weeks postpartum. Participants with EPDS scores of 13 or more were considered having depressive symptoms. SPSS version 23 was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics were provided. Independent sample t-test and Pearson r were used to examine differences in depression scores between selected demographic, psychosocial, and clinical variables. The level of significance for all analyses was set at α=0.05.Results: 8% of participants have scored 13 or above at the EPDS. Pearson r indicated that there was no correlation between EPDS scores and oxytocin level r(170)=0.10, p=0.23. Furthermore, there was no correlation between EPDS scores and oxytocin level among women with a lifetime history of depression, r(43)= - 0.13, p=0.37. Independent t-test has shown that participants with low education, low income, previous history of depression, positive family history of depression, positive family issues and absent emotional family support have scored significantly higher on EPDS scores than their counterparts. The association with a previous lifetime history of depression was noticeable t(170)= - 4.40, p<0.001.Conclusions: There was no relation between late antenatal third trimester serum oxytocin level and early onset postpartum depression symptoms. Third trimester serum oxytocin level alone was not capable of predicting early onset postpartum depression.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract