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Objective: The aim of the study is to examine the risk of postpartum depression (PPD) among women who delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to women who delivered before the COVID-19 pandemic and how economic challenges are associated with PPD. Methods: Data were collected from 2332 women. This includes 1197 women from healthcare facilities in 2019 who were followed up at 2–4 and 10 weeks postpartum. Additionally, we recruited 1135 women who delivered from March 16, 2020 onward when COVID-19 restrictions were mandated in Kenya in the same catchment areas as the original sample to compare PPD rates. Results: Adjusting for covariates, women who delivered during COVID-19 had 2.5 times higher odds of screening positive for PPD than women who delivered before COVID-19 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.92–3.15). Women who reported household food insecurity, required to pay a fee to cover the cost of PPE during labor and delivery and/or postnatal visit(s), and those who reported COVID-19 employment-related impacts had a higher likelihood of screening for PPD compared to those who did not report these experiences. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly increased the economic vulnerability of women, resulting in increases in PPD.
Two samples of reproductive‐aged women (15–49 years) who had a singleton delivery and a functional phone for follow‐up were recruited into the study. First, we include 1197 women who had enrolled in a previous maternal health study in 2019. At the time of original recruitment, women had delivered within the last seven days at one of six participating facilities in Nairobi or Kiambu Counties. Women were followed up at 2–4 and 10 weeks postpartum via phone. Further details on eligibility and procedures can be found in prior publications. 11 Second, we include 1135 women who delivered after March 16, 2020, or since COVID‐19 restrictions were announced in Kenya. We sampled women based on the catchment areas surrounding the six facilities from the previous study for comparability. Recruitment of women occurred through close engagement with village elders and community health volunteers from the six catchment areas. Eight experienced, female enumerators and one female supervisor participated in three‐day virtual training on the study procedures. Pilot testing was conducted with 30 women to ensure quality of questionnaire and survey logistics. Enumerators contacted women by phone and obtained verbal consent which was audio‐recorded. Women could continue with the survey or schedule an appointment. For those unable to be reached, up to nine phone call attempts were made at varying days and times. The 30‐min phone survey included modules on employment and financial impacts of COVID 19, health care utilization during COVID‐19, trust in health care systems, socio‐demographic questions, and pregnancy and childbirth history. Women who consented to participate received approximately $1.00 worth of mobile credit as an appreciation for their time. PPD was the primary outcome of interest and was evaluated using the World Health Organization’s Maternal WOICE Tool for postnatal care. 12 The measure includes 16 items whereby respondents are asked whether they felt bothered by various problems, for example, not being able to stop or control worrying, becoming easily annoyed or irritable, and having little interest or pleasure in doing things. All participants were administered the first 10 questions; however, only respondents who indicated having little interest or pleasure in doing things and/or feeling down, depressed, or hopeless were asked the remaining 6 questions. Items were scored from 0 (“not at all”) to 3 (“nearly every day”) to assess the frequency of depressive symptoms over the last 2 weeks. Items were then summed and scores of 10 or more on either set of questions was considered to be indicative of depression. Among women who delivered before COVID‐19, PPD was measured at 2–4 and 10 weeks after delivery; depression was assessed by examining whether the outcome occurred at either follow‐up interview. Among women who delivered during COVID‐19, depression was measured at the single survey occurring within 8 months of delivery. Individual‐level demographic characteristics include age, marital status, educational attainment, employment status, self‐rated health status, and parity. COVID‐related economic impacts were also captured among women who delivered during COVID‐19, including household food insecurity, facility‐level policies requiring women to pay fees to cover the cost of personal protective equipment (PPE) during delivery and post‐natal visits, and experiencing employment‐related impacts such as job loss or decreased pay. An index of household food insecurity was constructed using items from the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale, 13 whereby women were asked whether they experienced six indicators of food insecurity in the past 4 weeks (1 = yes, 0 = no). Responses were summed across all six indicators to construct an index score, with possible scores ranging from 0 to 6 signifying the number of household food insecurity indicators endorsed. Employment‐related impacts were assessed only among those women who reported to have been employed at the start of and/or during the pandemic. An employment‐related impact score was derived by summing the number of impacts reported with possible scores ranging from 0 to 5. Among women who delivered before the pandemic, the sample was restricted to those who completed at least one follow‐up visit and thus had complete information on PPD (N = 1014/1197 or 85%). The sample of women who delivered during COVID‐19 included women who delivered in facilities and at home. Because all the women who delivered before COVID‐19 had facility deliveries, the sample of women who delivered during the pandemic was restricted to women with facility deliveries only (n = 1072/1135 or 95%) to make these two samples more comparable. This yielded a final analytic sample of 1014 women who delivered before COVID‐19 and 1072 women who delivered during COVID‐19. Data were analyzed using descriptive, bivariate, and multivariable statistics using StataSE version 15.1. 14 Pearson chi‐square tests were used to assess potential differences in the distribution of demographic and health characteristics across the study samples. Several multivariable logistic regression models were also run to assess the relationship between select COVID‐related economic impacts (i.e., household food insecurity score, being required to pay a fee to cover the cost of PPE during delivery and postnatal visits, respectively, and employment‐related impact score) and screening positive for PPD among women who delivered during COVID‐19. Ethical clearance was received from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), Scientific and Ethics Review Unit (NON‐KEMRI 702) and from the University of California Los Angeles Institutional Review Board (IRB #20–001421).
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