Research Article: Awareness and related factors of depressive symptoms in breastfeeding people in South Korea: a survey-based cross-sectional study
Abstract:
Objectives This study identifies depressive symptoms and the factors that could explain its presence in breastfeeding people. Design This study is a cross-sectional study from national survey data. Setting and participants Data were derived from the 2019 Korean Community Health Survey. The study subjects were breastfeeding people under the age of 50. Primary outcome measures Depressive symptoms in breastfeeding people were classified according to the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) score. Physical and health behaviours were considered as factors related to depressive symptoms. A multilevel logistic regression analysis was used. Results Among 497 participants, 19.4% (n=97) of breastfeeding people were depressed. We found that depressive symptoms were associated with age (31–35, OR: 0.79, 95%?CI: 0.67 to 0.94; 35–49, OR: 0.42, 95%?CI: 0.32 to 0.56), rural setting (OR: 0.62, 95%?CI: 0.51 to 0.76), economic activity (OR: 0.75, 95%?CI: 0.61 to 0.91) and physical health (diabetus mellitus or hypertension, OR: 5.17, 95%?CI: 3.78 to 7.06). Conclusions This study implies that socioeconomic factors, physical health and health behaviours may influence depressive symptoms in breastfeeding people. These findings should be used as descriptive data to support the development of education programmes to help breastfeeding people.
Introduction:
Mental health has emerged as a national problem in Korea due to rapid economic growth and changes in social values. 1 2 Depression is a disease that causes a decrease in daily functioning by causing various cognitive, mental and physical symptoms with a decrease in motivation as the main symptoms, and it is more common than other mental diseases. 3 4 According to the WHO, 5% of adults and 280?million people worldwide suffer from depression. 5 Depression shows an increasing trend in both developing and developed…
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