Relationship between quality of life and postpartum depression among women in North-Central, Nigeria

Background: Postpartum depression is a problem of public health interest and impacts negatively on the perception of quality of lifer of sufferers. Quality of life' (QoL) as an outcome measure, is scantly used on women with postpartum depression in Nigeria. The current study was designed to assess the QoL of women with postpartum depression (PPD) in a tertiary hospital in North-Central, Nigeria.Method: A two-stage cross sectional procedure was used to recruit 550 participants 6 to 8 weeks postpartum in Jos, Northcentral, Nigeria. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF-26 (WHOQoL-BREF-26) questionnaire and the Depression Module of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV axis I Diagnosis (SCID) were used.Results: The studied participants were 531 out which 21.8% with postpartum depression had significantly poor perception in all the four domains of the WHOQoL-BREF-26 i.e., in the physical health (p<0.001), psychological (p<0.001), social relationships (p<0.001) and environmental (p<0.001) domains. On the whole, the overall rating of quality of life (p=0.002) and satisfaction with general health (p<0.001) were also perceived to be poor when compared to those without depression. However, regression model analysis showed that the presence of postpartum depression in a participant predicts a significant negative perception on physical and environmental domains of quality of life, but a positive prediction on the general satisfaction with health.Conclusion: Postpartum depression as a disorder of public health importance impacts on the perception of quality of life of women who suffer from it. Early detection and treatment will improve the quality of life of women with postpartum depression.Keywords: Quality of life, WHOQoL-BREF-26, Postpartum Depression, prevalence, North-Central, Nigeri