Research in Medicine

Background : In order to assess whether maternal blue is attributed to the rout of childbirth including vaginal delivery or cesarean section, this study was conducted at Hedayat Hospital in 2000.

Materials and methods : Among women who attended to the clinic of prenatal care in Hedayat Hospital those who accepted to participate were requested to fill a Beck depression inventory to rule out any underlying depressive disorder. Finally, for 200 parturients a structured questionnaire was filled out, once before and again one week after delivery. Initial data including age, education level, planned or unplanned pregnancy, familial satisfaction were inquired.

Results : Results showed that 55% of the subjects had symptoms of maternal blue during post partum period. Maternal blue is more prevalent among women who had cesarean section compared to vaginal delivery candidates (p<0.08, RR=1.6) however, the symptoms of maternal blue was less serious compared to mothers with vaginal delivery.

Conclusion : Maternal blue was revealed to be prevalent among parturients, thus further studies are warranted to address the problem and preventive interventions.