prevalence of postpartum depression in kerman

postpartum depression is a prevalent disorder and is the cause of considerable pathology in patient's daily life. in this cross-sectional study, 400 postpartum women in kerman who had given birth within 2 weeks to 2 months before the study were selected randomly and were given the beck depression inventory (801) and a questionnaire regarding pregnancy and its consequences. data were analyzed by chi-square and t-test, the results showed that 31.1 % of women had a bdi score of 16 or higher, indicating the presence of depression. also there was a higher prevalence of depression in primiparous women and those who had experienced previous abortion, child death or unwanted pregnancy. the importance of child's sex for mothers and the higher number of children were related to higher prevalence of depression. early recognition of postpartum depression may decrease further complications.