Adverse life events including pandemics have been associated with negative pregnancy and maternal outcomes. While a body of evidence has revealed an increase in mental health disorders associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, synthesized literature on postpartum mental health and associated risk factors during the pandemic period is scarce. The objective of this review is to assess the prevalence of depressive disorder among postpartum women during the COVID- 19 pandemic period.

Methods

A systematic review of articles on postpartum depression during the Covid-19 period was performed and reported adopting the PRISMA method. Search for peer-reviewed literature published between January 2019 to February 2021 from databases including ProQuest, PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO was done using medical search heading (MeSH) terms ‘COVID-19’, ‘Postpartum’ and ‘Depression’ combined. Only studies that used validated tools and reported prevalence of depressive disorder were included.

Results

A total of 11 studies met the inclusion criteria from the initial 996 identified. The highest prevalence of postpartum depressive disorder reported was 56.9%. About 18% (2/11) of studies reported lower postpartum depressive disorder during COVID-19 period than before. Maternal age, having a relative testing positive to COVID-19, fear of self or baby contracting COVID-19 were identified risk factors of depressive disorders.

Conclusion

Prevalence of depressive disorder among postpartum women during the COVID-19 period was high; it varied with age and increased with the potential of a social network contracting infection. Interventions targeted at reducing depressive disorder among postpartum women should be strengthened during COVID-19 period.

MeSH Keywords: Postpartum, Depression, COVID-19