Assessment of The Burden of, and Women’s Experience With Screening For, Maternal Perinatal Depression in Kuwait

Abstract Background Perinatal depression can have a devastating impact upon the health and lives of the mothers and their children. Although guidelines are in place to properly screen women for perinatal depression in high income countries, there still is a possibility that some women may be missed. Identifying women with or at high risk of perinatal depression is even more important during COVID-19 pandemic. This study was aimed to measure prevalence and associated factors of perinatal depression, and to understand the women’s experience of screening for perinatal depression in Kuwait. Methods Women who​ ​had recently attended antenatal and postnatal clinics in Kuwait during COVID-19 pandemic were approached through snowball sampling with the help of physicians in Kuwait in a cross-sectional online survey. They answered an online self-administered questionnaire consisting of Edinburgh postnatal depression scale, sociodemographic characteristics, and items about their experience of screening during antenatal and postnatal checkup. Out of the 158 women who answered this questionnaire, 75.3% were in their third trimester of pregnancy and the rest were in the postpartum period. Results Perinatal depression was possible in 31 (19.6%) highly possible in 23 (14.6%), and probable in 52 (32.9%) women in our study, indicating an alarming prevalence of the condition in the sampled population. A large proportion of the sample (66.5%) said that they were not aware of a screening process for perinatal depression, whereas only 5.7% said that they were screened for it. In the sample, 65.1% who were not screened for perinatal depression had perinatal depression (P<0.05). The mean scores for variables representing family support and help were higher among the normal women than with perinatal depression (P<0.001). Similarly, women with perinatal depression had scores towards disagreement when they were asked if they could easily talk about their problems and thoughts with their friends (P<0.01). Conclusions Maternal perinatal depression was high in Kuwaiti women who were either in their third trimester or had just given birth to a baby. The lack of awareness about the screening process and extremely low levels of screening for perinatal depression indicates the need to improve these women’s access to adequate screening services during and after pregnancy.