Objective:  Depression during pregnancy is associated with more prenatal care visits and lost maternal work days.  We studied the independent effect of depression on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in early pregnancy.

Methods:  We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 100 pregnant women receiving prenatal care (average gestational age: 14.6±6.4 weeks).  The outcome was mean HRQoL scores from the 8 Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-36) domains. The independent variable was depression, defined as a Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) score of ≥16. We used multiple linear regressions to measure the independent effect of depression on HRQoL.

Results:  The study population was 52% African-American, 34% White, and 12% Asian. The prevalence of depression was 14%. Women with depression had statistically significantly lower mean HRQoL in all domains except Bodily Pain.  After adjustment for socio-demographics, clinical factors and social support, depression remained independently associated with lower HRQoL.

HRQoL domain	Depression status
	Non-depressed (CES-D < 16) n=84	Depressed (CES-D≥ 16) n=14	P-value
Physical Functioning	76.2± 22.4	61.8 ±33	0.04
Role-Physical	59.3 ±38.7	28.6 ±37.8	0.006
Bodily Pain	78.1± 19	67.4 ±24.7	0.06
General Health	78.8 ±14.8	65.7 ±20.1	0.005
Vitality	47.3 ±21	30.7 ±19.6	0.007
Social Functioning	82.8 ±18.2	56.3 ±28.9	< 0.001
Role-Emotional	81.0± 32.2	31.0± 35.7	< 0.001
Mental Health	82.0± 12.9	57.4 ±17.2	< 0.001

 

Conclusions:  In this ethnically diverse sample of pregnant women, depression is associated with worse HRQoL. These findings may inform prenatal care guidelines and future research regarding screening for depression in early pregnancy.