The aim of this study was to assess period prevalence and risk factors of peripartum depression in South Korean women.

Two thousand four hundred and forty-nine women in their first trimester of pregnancy were recruited, 1355 women were followed to the end of the study (1 month after delivery), 423 women are before the 1 month after delivery, 671 were dropped out. There were four time points of assessment – 12, 24, 36 weeks of gestation and 1 month after delivery. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the validated Korean version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Risk factors were assessed across the demographic features, past histories, obstetric histories, and psychological status.

The prevalence of peripartum depressive symptoms (above 10 points of K-EPDS) was found to be 18.8% at 1st trimester, 12.9% at 2nd trimester, 12.6% at 3rd trimester, and 15.7% at 1 month after delivery. Identified risk factors of depression at 1st trimester were unmarried status, employed status, low family income, familial history and past history of depression, multigravida, unplanned pregnancy, hyperemesis, and threatened abortion. In psychological aspects, higher distress, lower marriage satisfaction, and lower quality of life increased the risk of depression. The analyses to identify risk factors of postpartum depression will be performed after the deliveries of recruited mothers are complete.

A substantial proportion of mothers suffered from peripartum depression from their early pregnancy in Seoul, Korea. Intervention based on identified risk factors would be recommended to help depressive pregnant mothers.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.