The Relationship between life-time Prevalence of Bipolar Spectrum Disorders and Incidence of Postnatal Depression

The present study was carried out to determine the incidence of Bipolar Spectrum Disorders (BSD) among pregnant women in rural areas of the province of Isfahan using Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ), and its relationship with the development of post-partum depression (PPD).

This cohort prospective study was carried out on all pregnant women in their third trimester, residing in rural areas covered by Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. In the first stage, all subjects were assessed for present depression and life-time BSD, by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and MDQ respectively. In the second stage, 6-8 weeks after delivery, all women who did not have depression at the first stage were screened for postnatal depression using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS).

Results showed the incidence of 24.65% for PPD. Significant correlation between life-time prevalence of BSD and incidence of PPD was shown (p<0.05, r=0.24). The sensitivity and specificity of the MDQ for predicting PPD were 46.6% and 75.6% respectively. Its positive and negative predictive values to predict PPD were 2.6% and 98.8% respectively.

Significant correlation between the long-life prevalence of BSD and incidence of PPD supported the hypothesis that PPD belongs to BSD. In addition, in instances where other risk factors of PPD are present, this questionnaire can be used to predict the probability of not developing PPD.