Empirically derived dietary patterns and postpartum depression symptoms in a large sample of Iranian women

• Published in: BMC psychiatry 2023-06, Vol.23 (1), p.422-422, Article 422
• Main Authors: Dehghan-Banadaki, Shima, Hosseinzadeh, Mahdieh, Madadizadeh, Farzan, Mozaffari-Khosravi, Hassan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Chi-square test; Childrens health; Cohort analysis; Cohort Studies; Complications and side effects; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dairy products; Depression, Postpartum - diagnosis; Depression, Postpartum - epidemiology; Depressive Disorder, Major; Diagnosis; Dietary intake; Dietary patterns; Factor analysis; Families & family life; Female; Fish oils; Food; Food habits; Fruits; Health aspects; Health facilities; Humans; Iran - epidemiology; Maternal & child health; Maternal and child health cohort study; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Mothers; Olive oil; Postpartum; Postpartum Depression; Pregnancy; Psychiatry; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; Research Design; Vegetables; Womens health; Yazd
• ISSN: 1471-244X; 1471-244X
• DOI: 10.1186/s12888-023-04910-w

Postpartum Depression (PPD) is a major depressive disorder that mainly begins within one month after delivery. The present study aimed to determine the relationship between dietary patterns and the occurrence of high PPD symptoms in women participating in the initial phase of the Maternal and Child Health cohort study, Yazd, Iran. This cross-sectional study was carried out in the years 2017-2019 included 1028 women after childbirth The Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) were study tools. The EPDS questionnaire was used to measure postpartum depression symptoms and a cut-off score of 13 was considered to indicate high PPD symptoms. The baseline data related to dietary intake was collected at the beginning of the study at the first visit after pregnancy diagnosis and the data related to depression, were collected in the second month after delivery. Dietary patterns were extracted by exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Frequency (percentage) and mean (SD) were used for description. Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, independent sample t-test, and multiple logistic regression (MLR) were used for data analysis. The incidence of high PPD symptoms was 24%. Four posterior patterns were extracted including prudent pattern, sweet and dessert pattern, junk food pattern and western pattern. A high adherence to the western pattern was associated with a higher risk of high PPD symptoms than a low adherence (OR : 2.67; p  0.05). High adherence to prudent patterns was characterized by high intake of vegetables, fruit and juice, nuts and beans, low-fat dairy products, liquid oil, olive, eggs, fish, whole grains had a protective effect against high PPD symptoms, but the effect of western pattern was characterized by high intake of red and processed meats and organs was reverse. Therefore, it is suggested that health care providers have a particular emphasis on the healthy food patterns such as the prudent pattern.