IMR Press / CEOG / Volume 50 / Issue 10 / DOI: 10.31083/j.ceog5010203
Open Access Systematic Review
Social Factors and the Risk of Postpartum Depression during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review
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1 West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, 610041 Chengdu, Sichuan, China
2 Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children, Ministry of Education, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University, 610041 Chengdu, Sichuan, China
*Correspondence: zhaojt@scu.edu.cn (Jitong Zhao)
These authors contributed equally.
Clin. Exp. Obstet. Gynecol. 2023, 50(10), 203; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.ceog5010203
Submitted: 15 June 2023 | Revised: 15 July 2023 | Accepted: 31 July 2023 | Published: 9 October 2023
Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: To investigate the effects of social factors including social support and social restriction on postpartum depression (PPD) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We conducted a systematic review with PubMed and Web of Science from 1 January 2020 to 1 April 2023. Articles focusing on social factors and PPD during COVID-19 pandemic were investigated. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Scale were used to evaluate quality of literatures. Results: We included 31 articles (22 cross-sectional studies and 9 cohort studies) with good quality. Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used as the preferred measure for defining PPD. Social support reduced the prevalence of developing PPD by 30%–40%. Social restriction increased the risk of PPD but there was lack of evidence or effective scales to define restriction. Conclusions: We found that social support acted as an important protective factor for PPD during the COVID-19 pandemic and that social restriction increased the risk of PPD. EPDS may be an optimal choice for researchers to define PPD. Obstetricians should underline social factors for both pregnancy women and their families. The study was registered on PROSPERO (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/), registration number: CRD42023434485.

Keywords
postpartum depression
social support
social restriction
COVID-19
systematic review
Funding
2022-YF05-01551-SN/Key R&D Support Program
21PJ051/Medical Technology Project
Figures
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