11 Is unintended pregnancy.pmd

1Educational Development Centre and Reproductive Research Centre; 2Medical School; 3Department of Research; 4Psychiatry Hospital; 5Department of Biostatistics, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Islamic Republic of Iran (Correspondence to S. Iranfar: [email protected]). ABSTRACT A study was carried out to determine the association between unintended pregnancy and preand postpartum depression in 163 women in Kermanshah city, Islamic Republic of Iran. Using the selfadministered Beck Depression Inventory for educated women and a special interview for illiterate women, 105 intended and 58 unintended pregnancies were studied. Of the 58 women with unintended pregnancy, 43% reported attempting to abort the fetus. Depression at 37 weeks’ gestation was slightly higher in the unintended than the intended pregnancy group (53.4% versus 41.0%; relative risk = 1.3) and depression 10 days postpartum was much higher in the unintended group (48.7% versus 25.6%; relative risk = 1.9). Screening for depression is recommended for pregnant women with unintended pregnancy.