AUTHOR=Husain Nusrat , Munshi Tariq , Jafri Farhat , Husain Meher , Parveen Asia , Saeed Qamar , Tomenson Barbara , Naeem Farooq , Chaudhry Nasim 

TITLE=Antenatal Depression is Not Associated with Low-Birth Weight: A Study from Urban Pakistan

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=5

YEAR=2014

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00175

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00175

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Low-birth weight (LBW) (&lt;2500 g) is considered to be a leading cause of cognitive impairment and physical disabilities in children. Incidence of LBW in South Asia has been reported to be as high as 33%. We investigated the association between antenatal depression and LBW in an urban community, in Karachi, Pakistan.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> A total of 1357 pregnant women in their third trimester were recruited into the study. They were screened for antenatal depression with Edinburgh postnatal depression scale. Self-reporting questionnaire was also used to measure psychological distress. Birth weights of 763 newborns were obtained from the hospital records.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> We did not find a significant association between antenatal depression and LBW (odds ratio 0.881, 95%CI 0.732–1.060) in mothers attending a charity run hospital in an urban setting in Pakistan.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Antenatal depression is not associated with LBW in this urban population in Pakistan. However, the prevalence of depression is high during pregnancy. There is a need to develop culturally adapted psychosocial interventions to address the high rates of depression for this population group.</p>