Effect of the Covid 19 pandemic on depression and mother-infant bonding in uninfected postpartum women in a rural region

• Published in: BMC pregnancy and childbirth Vol. 22; no. 1; p. 227
• Main Authors: Erten, Özlem, Biyik, İsmail, Soysal, Cenk, Ince, Onur, Keskin, Nadi, Tascı, Yasemin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central 19-03-2022; BMC
• Subjects: Adult; Cohort Studies; COVID 19 pandemic; COVID-19 - psychology; Depression, Postpartum - epidemiology; Female; Home Environment; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Maternal-infant bonding; Mother-Child Relations - psychology; Object Attachment; Postpartum depression; Pregnancy; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Rural Population; Social Determinants of Health; Sociodemographic Factors; Turkey - epidemiology; Visitor restriction; Turkey; Postpartum depression; COVID 19 pandemic; Maternal-infant bonding; Visitor restriction
• ISSN: 1471-2393; 1471-2393
• DOI: 10.1186/s12884-022-04580-8

Postpartum depression and maternal-infant attachment scores were examined in uninfected women during the COVID 19 pandemic in Kutahya, a rural province in Turkey's North Aegean region.
This cohort study was conducted in the Kutahya Health Sciences University Hospital obstetrics unit between April 2021 and August 2021. 178 low-risk term pregnant women who gave birth were given the surveys Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale and Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale (MIBQ) 6 weeks after birth. The Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale was used to determine postpartum depression and the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale was used to determine maternal attachment.
In this study, the postpartum depression rate was calculated as 17.4%. When depressed and non-depressed patients were compared, education level, maternal age, BMI, MIBQ score, history of previous pregnancies, route of delivery, previous operation history, economic status, employment status and pregnancy follow-up information were found to be similar (p > 0.05). The ratings on the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale were found to be similar in depressed and non-depressed patients (p > 0.05). The odds of maternal depression for patients who received guests at home was 3.068 (95%CI [1.149-8.191]) times the odds of patients who did not receive guests at home.
Although a relationship has been found between accepting guests in the postpartum period and postpartum depression, it is necessary to investigate in further studies whether there is a causal relationship.