Association between postpartum physical symptoms and mood

Abstract

Objective: Postpartum depression may be associated with higher levels of postpartum pain, but the association with discomfort in general is unclear. We sought to describe an association between postpartum mood disturbances and quantitatively measured physical symptoms at the time of the routine postpartum encounter.

Methods: We designed a novel quantitative measurement of postpartum symptoms, the Postpartum Symptom Inventory (PSI), to allow comparison to scores of postpartum mood. Women presenting for a routine postpartum visit were asked to complete a brief questionnaire about their delivery, the 20-item PSI, and an Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Depression scores were compared with symptom inventory scores and demographic data.

Results: Two hundred six women responded, of whom 77% had a vaginal delivery. The most common physical symptoms experienced to a bothersome degree were fatigue (35.3%), back/hip pain (22.4%), and headache (13.2%). Twenty-nine women (14.3%) had an EPDS score of 10 or more, thereby screening positive for possible depression. Women screening positive had significantly greater total PSI scores than women who did not screen positive (20.2 vs 12.2, p < 0.001). After adjustment for history of depression and age, the odds of screening positive for depression were 3.6 times higher in women with PSI scores over 10 compared to women with lower scores [95% CI: (1.1, 11.4); p = 0.03].

Conclusion: Data suggest that a high level of physical symptomatology as measured by a PSI score >10 at six weeks post-delivery is associated with increased odds of screening positive for postpartum depression.

Keywords: Mood; Physical symptoms; Postpartum care; Postpartum depression.