Relationship between Postpartum Depression and Unwanted Pregnancy in Ecuadorian Women: A Quantitative Study

Abstract

Analyzing the factors that influence postpartum depression, such as unwanted pregnancies, contributes significantly to the current literature since episodes of postpartum depression tend to leave various psychological sequelae for the mother and the newborn. Several studies provide empirical evidence suggesting that factors such as having experienced a stillbirth episode, having planned the baby by the mother and her partner, being of a non-indigenous ethnicity, having had a normal delivery, and living in an urban area significantly affect the experience of postpartum depressive episodes. We used a representative sample of 20648 mothers from the 2018 National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUT). We used a binary logistic linear regression model where we estimated the Odds Ratio (OR) and marginal impacts with their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for each of the independent variables. Our results show that having had an episode of stillbirth (OR=2.521; CI=2.106 - 3.018), having a planned child by the mother (OR=0.648; CI=0.590 - 0.710), and her partner (OR=0.841; CI=0.762 - 0.928), being of an ethnicity other than indigenous, having had a normal delivery (OR=0.775; CI=0.721 - 0.833) and living in the urban area (OR=1.085; CI=1.006 - 1.171) are factors that significantly affect the probability of experiencing an episode of postpartum depression. Based on our findings, we recommend that health policymakers and medical professionals consider that postpartum depression has a great significance or commitment in the puerperal population, constituting a pressing psychological condition, which should not be underestimated, but rather should be encouraged to give due attention it deserves. In addition, we should not exclude the risk factors involved in the possible development of this pathology.