Assessing the prevalence of postpartum depression and the associated sociodemographic factors among women who deliver at four PIH supported facilities in rural districts in Lesotho.

Introduction: Postpartum depression (PPD) is a major public health issue. PPD occurs in women
who have given birth, usually with symptoms occurring within two weeks. PPD is the leading
cause of disease burden in women of reproductive age. Studies have shown that about 10% of
women who are pregnant and 13-18% of women who have just given birth experience depression.
PPD affects not only the mother but the child, as well as the family. Women with PPD may
experience not wanting to take care of their babies, insecurity, lack of concentration, and even
suicidal thoughts. If left untreated, PPD can have long and unpleasant effects on women and their
families.
Methods: This was a quantitative, secondary cross-sectional data analysis study. Depression data
were extracted from records of the already administered Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9) in
the health facilities. Sociodemographic data were extracted from medical records of women who
delivered in the health facilities. The collected data were coded using excel and transported into
SPSS version 23 for analysis. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Fisher's Exact
tests to analyze the association between socio-demographic factors and the prevalence of PPD. A
multivariate binary logistic regression was done to identify the significance of associated factors.
During the analysis, variables with p-value <0.05 were considered significantly associated factors
with PPD.
Result: A total of 295 PHQ-9 scores along with medical records of women containing socio demographic factors were collected and analyzed. The prevalence of PPD was found to be 37.6%
(111 women). HIV status, mode of delivery, facilities, episiotomy, and tear of the vagina during
delivery were all shown to be significantly associated with PPD during the Fisher's exact test with
a p-value <0.05. During the multivariate logistic regression, facilities were the only factor that was
shown to be significant with a p-value of <0.001 and CI of 0.046 (0.007-0.285).
Conclusion: The prevalence of postpartum depression is high among women who delivered at
these four PIH-supported facilities. Despite most of the prevalence being mild, healthcare
institutions and health workers need to design and implement strategies that will help reduce the
risk of developing PPD among women in Lesotho.