Positive screening for major depressive disorder in high-risk pregnant women

ABSTRACT Objective: To estimate the frequency of positive screening for major depressive disorder and associated factors in high-risk pregnant women at a reference hospital of the Brazilian Public Health System. Methods: Cross-sectional study with 184 high-risk pregnant women at the Maternity at the Hospital Regional de São José , SC, Brazil. Positive screening for major depressive disorder using the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale was selected as the dependent variable. Socio-demographic and pregnancy-related variables were also collected. Data were analyzed using Poisson regression with a robust estimator, including all variables that presented a p-value < 0.20 in the bivariate analysis. Statistically significant differences were considered when p ≤ 0.05. Results: The frequency of positive screening for major depressive disorder was 37.5%. Non-white skin color, income of less than USD 572,56 per month and maternal age of less than 18 years or greater than or equal to 35 years were statistically and independently associated with positive screening for major depressive disorder in high-risk pregnant women. Conclusion: The frequency of positive screening for major depressive disorder in the high-risk pregnant women studied was 37.5%. The frequency was statistically associated with skin color, family income and extremes in the maternal age.