Abstract
Study Objective
To determine whether prenatal depressive symptoms are associated with postpartum sexual
risk among young, urban women of color.
Design
Participants completed surveys during their second trimester of pregnancy and at 1 year
postpartum. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression
Scale, excluding somatic items because women were pregnant. Logistic and linear regression
models adjusted for known predictors of sexual risk and baseline outcome variables
were used to assess whether prenatal depressive symptoms make an independent contribution
to sexual risk over time.
Setting
Fourteen community health centers and hospitals in New York City.
Participants
The participants included 757 predominantly black and Latina (91%, n = 692) pregnant
teens and young women aged 14-21 years.
Interventions and Main Outcome Measures
The main outcome measures were number of sex partners, condom use, exposure to high-risk
sex partners, diagnosis of a sexually transmitted disease, and repeat pregnancy.
Results
High levels of prenatal depressive symptoms were significantly associated with increased
number of sex partners (β = 0.17; standard error, 0.08), decreased condom use (β = −7.16;
standard error, 3.08), and greater likelihood of having had sex with a high-risk partner
(odds ratio = 1.84; 95% confidence interval, 1.26-2.70), and repeat pregnancy (odds
ratio = 1.72; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-2.72), among participants who were sexually
active (all P < .05). Prenatal depressive symptoms were not associated with whether participants
engaged in postpartum sexual activity or sexually transmitted disease incidence.
Conclusion
Screening and treatment for depression should be available routinely to women at risk
for antenatal depression.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 08, 2015
Footnotes
Sharon Rising is President/CEO of the non-profit, Centering Healthcare Institute. There are no other known conflicts of interest to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
