Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess if the marital status, especially cohabitation, of pregnant and postpartum women, has any influence on the incidence of perinatal depression symptoms.
Material and methods: 117 pregnant women (at 32-40 weeks of gestation) and 105 postpartum patients (2-5 days after the delivery) were included in the study. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used as a screening test for symptoms of pre- and postnatal depression. The risk of appearance of depressive symptoms was assessed in three groups of pregnant and postpartum patients - married, unpartnered and cohabitating.
Results: By means of the EPDS test, symptoms of perinatal depression were found in 17% of pregnant and 10% of postpartum women. In comparison to married women, the risk of appearance of depressive symptoms in unpartnered pregnant patients was almost 10-times higher (OR=9.34; 95% CI 1.42, 201.77), and several hundred times higher in cohabitating pregnant women (OR=975.86; 95% CI 116.73, 19502.00); the risk of depressive symptoms in postpartum unpartnered women was more than 2 times higher (OR=2.4; 95% CI 0.59, 9.72) and more than 20 times higher in cohabitating postpartum mothers (OR=23.2; 95% CI 5.89, 91.51).
Conclusions: 1. the marital status of pregnant and postpartum women has a substantial influence on the risk of the development of perinatal depressive symptoms; this risk is highly increased in a group of cohabitating women compared to patients remaining in a formal partnership as well as women who live unpartnered, 2. clinical evaluation of women in the perinatal period should include the assessment of their psychosocial status, which can constitute a predicting factor of perinatal depression, 3. pregnant women living in informal partnership should be put under strict psychological surveillance.