Risk Factors for Depression in Pregnancy: Scoping Review

Abstract

Antenatal depression has become a common and serious problem that can affect the health of both mother and baby. This study aims to review the latest obstetric scientific evidence on the risk factors for depression in pregnancy. This research is a Scoping review using the Arkshey & O'Malley Framework and the PRISMA-ScR Checklist. The literature search used 3 databases, namely Pubmed, Science Direct, and Wiley Online Library. The keywords used were pregnant women, risk factors, and pregnancy depression. The inclusion criteria were original articles; published in 2018 to 2022, in English, open access and full text, and a focus on risk factors for pregnancy depression. Article quality assessment uses the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Checklist. 13 articles were quantitative studies conducted in hospitals and clinics, and came from 8 different countries. Mapping themes from the results of the article analysis are the prevalence of depression in pregnancy, risk factors based demographics including age, education level, marital status and occupation, risk factors based on obstetric characteristics including the number of pregnancies, history of abortion, unwanted pregnancies and diseases in pregnancy, as well as risk factors based on psychosocial including husband support, family, domestic violence, and harmful habits. Information on recognizing risk factors for depression in pregnancy is important for health workers to detect depression on time and implement relevant psychosocial interventions to reduce the incidence of depression during pregnancy

Identification of Variables Influencing the Mental Health of Pregnant Women

“…This implies that other unexplored factors like the age or education level of the husband and family income continue to affect pregnant women's mental health. These findings are consistent with prior research that highlights the primary determinants for antenatal mental health disorders, including education, number of children, a history of preceding pregnancy complications, and lack of social support (Zegeye, 2018;Setyorini et al, 2023).…”