Parental Postnatal Depressive Symptoms in NICU are strongly related to Demographic factors and Maternal as well as Neonatal Perinatal Clinical Outcome

Introduction: Giving birth to a preterm infant is undoubtedly a stressful event on parents’ psychological wellbeing. Aim: To determine the depression levels and define the related demographic and clinical factors. Material and Methods: A prospective, follow up–cohort study, in “Helena Venizelou” Maternity Hospital’s NICU (Athens, Greece), between December 2019 to December 2022, with the sample of sixty couples, whose infants’ birth weight (BW) was <1750g and gestational age (GA) <34weeks. Data were collected using the Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale in 3rd–4th, in 20th– 25th day of life and at NICU discharge. Results: Mothers experienced higher levels of depression than fathers did, at all assessments (1st: p<0.001, 2nd: p<0.001, 3rd: p<0.001). Our data concluded that the rate of maternal depression in the 1st & 2nd assessment [Mean (SD):14.9(5.9) and Mean (SD):12.4(6.2), respectively] was significantly higher than the 3rd [Mean (SD):10.3 (5.9)]. Moreover, the rate of fathers’ depression in the 1st assessment [Mean (SD):10.3(5.8)] was higher compared to the 3rd [Mean (SD):6.4(5.2)]. Other factors that contributed to higher levels of depression were maternal health problems & receiving in vitro fertilisation treatment for mothers as well as Apgar score 5΄ for fathers. Maternal age, clinical course of pregnancy (primiparous & single pregnancies), neonatal BW & hospitalization duration as well as Apgar and CRIB II score were also found to correlate with levels of depression. Conclusion: