Maternal postnatal depression: causes and consequences

A longitudinal follow-up study of postnatal depression was performed in the years 1995–2000 at the University of Oulu. A volunteer, ramdomly selected group of 187 mothers from maternal wards of the University Hospital of Oulu were studied using different questionnaires in the first post-partum week. Depressive symptoms were re-assessed employing the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale four months post-partum, when paternal depression was evaluated with Beck Depression Inventory. 16.2 % of the women were screened as being depressed immediately after delivery. Four months post-partum, 13.0 % of the mothers were depressed, whereas 5.1 % of the fathers showed depressive symptoms. The cumulative incidence of maternal postnatal depression within the first four months was 22.2 %.