Global Prevalence of Prenatal Depression: A Meta Analysis from 2016 – 2020

Abstract

Background: Depression is the utmost common psychological problem affecting women worldwide during the prenatal period. As the pregnancy progresses, the risk of prenatal depression increases considerably, and clinically obvious symptoms of depression are common in 2^nd and 3^rd trimesters of pregnancy. The occurrence of prenatal depression is different in developing and developed countries.  

Objectives: To estimate the pooled prevalence of prenatal depression among women globally through a meta-analysis of studies published between 2016 and 2020, with comparison between developed and underdeveloped countries.

Methods: The database used for systematic review included Endnote search, PubMed, Google Scholar and Google search engine. For Meta-Analysis, the software ‘MetaXL’ was used to enter and analyze the findings of literature collected. The application ‘Meta-Analysis of Prevalence’ was used in this software for the analysis. A total number of 45 studies from last 5 years i-e, from 2016 to 2020 were included in this meta-analysis to measure the pooled prevalence of prenatal depression in different countries.

Results: The pooled prevalence of prenatal depression with fixed effects method was found as 16.9%, whereas, the pooled prevalence of prenatal depression with random effects method was found as 23.69%. There was significant heterogeneity in the meta-analysis with p < 0.05 and I² > 75%. The Egger’s test and Begg’s test revealed that there was no evidence of publication bias found in this meta-analysis (p = 0.0007).

Conclusion: A significantly high pooled prevalence of global prenatal depression suggests the burden of disease a serious public health concern in under developed as well as in developed countries.