<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> Background and Objective: Although perinatal depression is a worldwide problem, most of the studies related to this issue have been conducted in Western countries. This paper summarizes the literature on the prevalence as well as associated factors among Asian countries where the cultural attitudes, customs, and norms are considerably different from those in Western countries.Methods: We conducted a literature search using MEDLINE (PubMed) from 1968, PsychINFO from 1970, and SCOPUS database from 1982 using keywords “depression”, “antenatal”, “antepartum”, “pregnancy”, “postnatal”, “postpartum”, “perinatal”, “after childbirth” and “Asia”. Only the articles published in English were included.Results: The overall prevalence of depression during pregnancy and postnatal period are about 20% and 21.8%, respectively. The factors related to perinatal depression can be grouped into the following categories, individual characteristics, husband/marital relationship, pregnancy-related, infant-related, and other psychosocial issues. While there is considerable overlap between Asian and Western countries with respect to risk factors for perinatal depression, premarital pregnancy, conflict with mother in-law, and dissatisfaction with infant’s gender are more specific to Asian cultures.Conclusions: Studies conducted in Asian countries suggest that the prevalence of perinatal depression is slightly higher than in Western countries. There are several unique culturally related issues that clinicians treating pregnant and postpartum Asian women should be aware as they contribute to an increased risk of depression in these women.</abstract>

Background and Objective: Although perinatal depression is a worldwide problem, most of the studies related to this issue have been conducted in Western countries. This paper summarizes the literature on the prevalence as well as associated factors among Asian countries where the cultural attitudes, customs, and norms are considerably different from those in Western countries.Methods: We conducted a literature search using MEDLINE (PubMed) from 1968, PsychINFO from 1970, and SCOPUS database from 1982 using keywords “depression”, “antenatal”, “antepartum”, “pregnancy”, “postnatal”, “postpartum”, “perinatal”, “after childbirth” and “Asia”. Only the articles published in English were included.Results: The overall prevalence of depression during pregnancy and postnatal period are about 20% and 21.8%, respectively. The factors related to perinatal depression can be grouped into the following categories, individual characteristics, husband/marital relationship, pregnancy-related, infant-related, and other psychosocial issues. While there is considerable overlap between Asian and Western countries with respect to risk factors for perinatal depression, premarital pregnancy, conflict with mother in-law, and dissatisfaction with infant’s gender are more specific to Asian cultures.Conclusions: Studies conducted in Asian countries suggest that the prevalence of perinatal depression is slightly higher than in Western countries. There are several unique culturally related issues that clinicians treating pregnant and postpartum Asian women should be aware as they contribute to an increased risk of depression in these women.

Perinatal depression in Asian women: prevalence, associated factors, and cultural aspects

MD, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330,

Department of Psychiatry and Obstetrics/ Gynecology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

The Penn Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness, Pennsylvania 19107,

Asian Biomedicine

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Background and Objective: Although perinatal depression is a worldwide problem, most of the studies related to this issue have been conducted in Western...

Perinatal depression in Asian women: prevalence, associated factors, and cultural aspects

Article Category: Review article

Published Online: Feb 04, 2017

Page range: 179 - 193

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5372/1905-7415.0502.024

Keywords
Asia, cultural, perinatal depression

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Perinatal depression in Asian women: prevalence, associated factors, and cultural aspects

Article Category: Review article

Published Online: Feb 04, 2017

Page range: 179 - 193

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5372/1905-7415.0502.024

KeywordsAsia, cultural, perinatal depression

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Asia, cultural, perinatal depression