ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To measure the prevalence of postpartum depression among women attending postnatal clinics in Kingston, Jamaica, and to determine the risk factors associated with the occurrence of postpartum depression in this population. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This study was cross-sectional, and surveyed 132 women. The survey was conducted among postnatal women who attended the postnatal clinic at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH), the University Hospital of West Indies and several government health centres in Kingston during the months of JulySeptember 2015. The survey instrument was a field tested interviewer-assisted questionnaire to which the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was incorporated to indicate the presence of depressive symptoms among the respondents. RESULTS: The prevalence of postpartum depression among the women in this study is estimated to be 47.7%. Mothers who had a life event with a significant negative impact were 2.7 times more likely to have postpartum depressive symptoms than those who did not (OR = 2.7; 95% CI 1.02,7.17; p = 0.046), and mothers who were unemployed were 60% more likely to develop postpartum depressive symptoms than those who were employed (OR = 1.60; 95% CI1.17, 2.18; p = 0.003).CONCLUSION: The prevalence of postpartum depressive symptoms in the Jamaican population of postpartum women in this study is higher than previous estimates andhigher than the World Health Organization estimates(2015). Studies should be undertaken with larger sample sizes to unearth further risk factors that may predispose women to postpartum depressive symptoms in Jamaica.
