Pregnancy complications and their association with postpartum depression symptoms: a retrospective study

Objective: Postpartum depression affects around 17% of the women worldwide and has considerable implications for maternal and child health. While some risk factors have been identified, the association between pregnancy and delivery complications and postpartum depression is less well understood. This study aims to determine whether specific pregnancy complications are associated with risk of postpartum depression symptoms (PPDS). Method: This study analysed a subset of variables collected as part of a larger study exploring pregnancy circumstances and maternal-foetal health outcomes. Mothers residing in Australia provided information on their biological children aged 3–13 years. Pregnancy complications were analysed using bivariate analyses and binary logistic regression. Results: Mothers (N = 1,926) reported on N = 3,210 pregnancies (mean number of pregnancies = 1.27, SD = 0.97). At the time of childbirth, mothers were on average 30.1 years old (SD = 5.14). Experiencing a pregnancy complication increased the risk of PPDS (X2 = 16.45, df = 1, p < 0.001) However, logistic regression analyses indicated an increased risk of PPDS was associated with the specific pregnancy complications of cytomegalovirus (AOR = 7.06, 95% CI[1.51,32.98]), emergency caesarean (AOR = 1.67, 95% CI[1.31,2.12]), foetal distress before birth (AOR = 1.49, 95% CI[1.16,1.91]), induced labour (AOR = 1.55, 95% CI[1.25,1.91]) and placenta previa (AOR = 2.60, 95% CI[1.44,4.71]). Conclusion: Specific pregnancy complications were associated with PPDS, suggesting that some complications may pose a greater risk for PPDS than others. This study contributes to the growing understanding of peripartum risk factors for postpartum depression, and suggests that early clinical identification of at-risk mothers and early prophylactic and supportive care may be warranted to reduce that risk.