ArticleMaternal and child health journal2015
Depressive Symptoms Prior to Pregnancy and Infant Low Birth Weight in South Africa.
Article in Maternal and child health journal, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- The epidemiology of maternal mental health in Africa: a systematic review.Archives of women's mental health · 2025Pooled it
- Mentor Mothers Program Improved Child Health Outcomes At A Relatively Low Cost In South Africa.Health affairs (Project Hope) · 2017Trial
- Role of Mediators in Reducing Antepartum Depressive Symptoms in Rural Low-Income Women Receiving a Culturally Tailored Cognitive Behavioral Intervention.Issues in mental health nursing · 2016Trial
- Residential greenness and reduced depression during COVID-19: Longitudinal evidence from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.PloS one · 2025Article
- Perinatal Depressive Symptoms and Viral Non-suppression Among a Prospective Cohort of Pregnant Women Living with HIV in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.AIDS and behavior · 2023Article
- Article
- Pre-existingmental health disorders affect pregnancy and neonatal outcomes: a retrospectivecohort study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2020Article
- Article
- Perception of Mothers and Selected Informal Maternity Caregivers Regarding Maternal Depression in Two Communities of Ibadan In Nigeria.Archives of basic and applied medicine · 2018Article
- High social trust associated with increased depressive symptoms in a longitudinal South African sample.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2018Article
- Validation of the 10-item Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) in Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans populations in South Africa.BMC psychiatry · 2017Article
- Income inequality and depressive symptoms in South Africa: A longitudinal analysis of the National Income Dynamics Study.Health & place · 2016Article
- Screening for Antepartum Depression Through Community Health Outreach in Swaziland.Journal of community health · 2016Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Despite improvements in service delivery and patient management, low birth weight among infants has been a persistent challenge in South Africa. The study aimed to explore the relationship between depression before pregnancy and the low birth weight (LBW) of infants in post-apartheid South Africa. This study utilized data from Waves 1 and 2 of the South African National Income Dynamics Study, the main outcome being a dichotomous measure of child LBW (<2500 g) drawn from the Wave 2 child questionnaire. Depressive symptoms of non-pregnant women was the main predictor drawn from the Wave 1 adult questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were screened using the 10-item four-point Likert version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) instrument. A total score of 10 or greater on the CES-D indicates a positive screen for depressive symptoms. An adjusted logistic regression model was used to examine the relationship between women's depression before pregnancy and infant LBW. A sample size of 651 women in Wave 1 was linked to 672 newborns in Wave 2. The results of the adjusted logistic regression model indicated depressive symptoms (CES-D ≥ 10) prior to pregnancy were associated with infant LBW (adjusted OR 2.84, 95 % CI 1.08-7.46). Another significant covariate in the model was multiple childbirths. Our finding indicates that women's depressive symptoms prior to pregnancy are associated with the low birth weight of newborns and suggests that this association may not be limited to depression present during the ante-natal phase.
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