Prevalence and Factors of Postpartum Depression During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review

Abstract

The COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) pandemic has led to several mandatory prevention regulations, changes in healthcare services, unprecedented unemployment rates, financial stress, and emotional worries. Given the increasing cases of COVID-19, coupled with the drastic physical and psychological changes within postpartum mothers during the postpartum period, this paper aims to present an overview of the postpartum depression (PPD) among postpartum women during the COVID-19 pandemic. The postpartum period is characterized by drastic physical changes and substantial demands on parental role adjustment, and it places enormous stress on the mothers and makes them vulnerable to mental health problems. A literature search was conducted in four electronic databases (ScienceDirect, Scopus, Wiley, and SAGE) with different combinations of keywords were used. As the result, 25 articles that involved 10,515 postpartum women from 14 countries were extracted. Results have recorded PPD prevalence ranged from 6.4% to 56.9% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Limited social support, social isolation, fear of COVID-19 exposure, or infection for themselves, newborns, have worsening PPD symptoms among postpartum women. In brief, early detection, appropriate and timely intervention is needed to prevent and identify PPD among postpartum women during the COVID-19 pandemic. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-04181-w.

Risk of Postpartum Depression: The Considerable Role of Maternal Health Status and Lifestyle

“…Our findings echo other Saudi studies, as 74% of our study sample scored over 14 on the EPDS [13,17]. This could be due to the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, as our survey was conducted between April and November 2021 (during the height of the pandemic) and reflects the critical findings of Papworth et al (2021) who found that 90% of mothers who had recently given birth felt isolated due to the COVID-19 restrictions, as well as several other international studies that showed that women during COVID-19 were more likely to present clinically significant levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms [7,9,15,33,34].…”

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) prioritizes a healthy diet, that is, nutrition, weight management, physical activity, planned pregnancy, and physical, mental, and psychosocial health for women of reproductive age [1][2][3][4][5]. (Women's health issues are complex, and collaborative efforts are required to unravel some of these complexities in order to support women through their reproductive experiences, to enhance health and well-being, and to ensure better maternal outcomes [6][7][8][9]. Postpartum depression (PPD) is a common issue among childbearing women, as up to one in seven women will experience PPD [8,10,11].…”

“…There are several well-documented risk factors that may exacerbate the potential development of PPD, including a prior history of depression and anxiety (either in pregnancy or previously) [6,8,11,12], a family history of mental illness, low levels of spousal support or family support [7,[11][12][13][14], isolation [7,15,16], infant health issues (including infants with special needs) or breastfeeding and maternal health challenges (including mode of birth or delivery, such as caesarean section or birth trauma) [12], unplanned pregnancy [12][13][14], difficulties with breastfeeding [12], chronic health issues, fatigue and poor sleep quality [3,14,17,18], significant life events (e.g., the death of a loved one, moving houses or job changes), and financial troubles [11,12,19,20].…”

“…According to the WHO, the rates of PPD are increasing exponentially and must be addressed more proactively by healthcare professionals through the use of integrative approaches within women's health [2,3,6,9,32]. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased the risk of PPD in women [7,9,33,34]. If undetected and untreated, the consequences of PPD are far-reaching and pose an urgent public health concern that will have serious economic implications [7,33,35].…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased the risk of PPD in women [7,9,33,34]. If undetected and untreated, the consequences of PPD are far-reaching and pose an urgent public health concern that will have serious economic implications [7,33,35].…”