Depression by Association? Mental Well-Being of Women in Urban Slums of Pakistan

BACKGROUND- The association of mental health with parenthood is complex and varies across many social contexts. Previous studies place mothers with young children at a high-risk for depression. Therefore, the study aimed to understand the association of parity as a risk factor for maternal depression in a cross-sectional survey. METHOD- A total of 255 women were surveyed at two primary health care centers in Karachi, a Metropolitan city of Pakistan between May 2019 and July 2019 with an anonymously answered Public Health Questionnaire (PHQ) 9. The demographic characteristics and related variables were determined as potential correlates of vulnerability to maternal depression. Significant predictive factors associated with risk factors were analyzed by means of linear correlation and multiple regression analysis. RESULTS- The PHQ 9 score noted an 89.2% prevalence of depression in the study sample. Of those, 72.6% (0.001 p-value) were multiparous women (3-5 children). When analyzed within each individual parity category, grand-multiparous women (6 or more children) had the highest percentage of depression at 92.6% followed by multiparous women (2-5 children) at 90.6%. CONCLUSION- The result showed the greatest frequency of depression among multiparous women. However, grand multiparous unemployed women were at the highest risk of depression among low-income urban populations.