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Material and Method: Two hundred teenage pregnant women aged between 13 and 19 years who visited King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital (KCMH) participated in the present study. They were asked to complete the validated Thai Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) questionnaire for depression screening. The cut-off score of 11 was used for the diagnosis of prenatal depression.
Results: Ninety-two (46%) teenage pregnant women were found to have prenatal depression using the EPDS cut-off score of 11. The mean age of participants was 17.5 years with the mean gestational ages of 23 weeks. Most of the participants (67%) resigned from school and 16% had history of attempted abortion during current pregnancy. There was no significant association between prenatal depression and unplanned pregnancy, unemployment, leaving school, or trimester at screening. Logistic regression analyses showed that history of attempted abortion and inadequate income were significantly associated with prenatal depression (odd ratio = 8.03, 95% CI 1.59 to 40.37 and 4.16, 95% CI 1.35 to 12.83, respectively).
Conclusion: Prenatal depression was common among teenage pregnant women who visited KCMH. Attempted abortion and inadequate income were found to be significantly associated with prenatal depression.
Keywords: Teenage pregnancy, Prenatal depression, Factor