Literature review for - Flourish Paediatrics

Studies used to determine the risk factors associated with postnatal depression
Reference Beck (2001) (reviewed in Robertson et O’Hara & Swain (1996) (reviewed Robertson et al. (2004)
al. SLR adjacent)
in Robertson et al. SLR adjacent)
Type of study Meta-analysis Meta-analysis SLR
Level of evidence I (aetiology) I (aetiology) I (aetiology)
Definition of
breastfeeding
Varied between studies in analysis Varied between studies in analysis Varied between studies in analysis
Intervention/
comparator
postpartum depression predictors
Relationship between postnatal
depression and a variety of nonbiological/hormonal
risk
factors
N > 2692 12,810 (from 59 studies) ≈24,000
Population/study
information
On-line databases were searched for the
10-year period between 1990-2000
A total of 107 potential studies were
located. 84 studies met the sample
criteria. 54 (64%) of the studies were
journal articles, 28 (34%) were
unpublished dissertations, and two
studies were unpublished master’s theses.
44 studies (52%), took place in the
United States, 11 (13%) in Canada, 7
(8%) in the United Kingdom, 3 (4%)
in New Zealand, two each in Australia,
South Africa, Ireland, and France and one
each in Japan, Belgium, Portugal, United
Arab, Israel, Switzerland, Brazil, China,
Nigeria, Netherlands, and Finland.
Searched for studies that examined
the relationship between postpartum
depression and a possible risk factor.
Investigations were included if they
met the following criteria: (a)
reported statistical relationship
between variable of interest and
postpartum depression (b) variable of
interest assessed during either
pregnancy or delivery; (c) subjects
recruited through random or quasirandom
sampling techniques; (d)
depression assessed after at least two
weeks postpartum (e) postpartum
depression assessed using a validated
or standardized measure.
59 studies were eligible
postpartum depression predictors
19 databases relating to the medical,
psychological, and social science
literature were searched using specific
inclusion criteria and search terms, in
order to identify studies examining
antenatal risk factors for postpartum
depression.
The research studies were of human
subjects, empirical, peer-reviewed,
and published in English between
1990 and 2002 (excluding seminal
studies prior to these dates)
2 major meta-analyses (Ohara &
Swain and Beck in columns adjacent)
conducted on over 14,000 subjects, as
well as newer subsequent large-scale
234