Effects of antenatal depression screening and intervention among Chinese high-risk pregnant women with medically defined complications: A randomized controlled trial.

AIM: High-risk pregnant women with antenatal depression are prone to postpartum depression. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an antenatal depression screening and intervention among Chinese high-risk pregnant women with medically defined complications.

METHODS: Using a randomized controlled trial design, we enrolled 352 pregnant women with obstetrical complications and an Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS) ≥9 or postpartum depression screen scale (PDSS) ≥60. These participants were randomly assigned into the intervention group (n = 176) and control group (n = 176). The intervention group underwent a six-session group intervention with one session focused on the husbands; the control group received the usual care. Participants were assessed at baseline, late pregnancy (≥28 weeks), 3 days and 42 days after delivery with PDSS and EPDS.

RESULTS: Analysis of variance of repeated measures showed significant differences at each time point between groups. Analysis of the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that there was no statistically significant differences in the PDSS and EPDS scores at any time point among the high-risk pregnant women who attended different frequencies of the maternal intervention sessions (P > 0.05). Analysis of the Mann-Whitney U test showed that the PDSS and EPDS were also not impacted based on whether or not the husbands participated in Session 6 of the intervention (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the effectiveness of the screening and the targeted management of antenatal depression in Chinese high-risk pregnant women.