Background: The baby blues may be defined as a mild and transient depressive state occurring in newly delivered women. It is considered as the most precocious and benign emotional disorder of the puerperium. Objective: This study aimed at describing the epidemiological and clinical aspects of this condition in Cameroonian women. Method: A cross-sectional analysis of women recruited from January to April 2015 in two teaching hospitals of Yaoundé, Cameroon was done. The survey covered 321 newly delivered women who answered the Kennerley and Gath blues questionnaire within the first ten days of postpartum. Demographic information, medical, obstetrical, psychosocial and neonatal data were equally obtained. Results: The prevalence of baby blues in our series was 33.3%, the greatest number of affected women experienced the condition after 4 days into postpartum. The most occurring symptoms were women being tearful (91 patients, 85%), ups and downs in the mood (89 patients, 83.2%), changeable in spirit (84 patients, 78.5%), being mentally tensed (70 patients, 65.4%), depressed (69 patients, 64.5%), and being anxious (65 patients, 60.7%). Conclusion: The baby blues is common in Cameroonian women, occurring in close to one mother out of three. Newly delivered women manifest with mild depressive symptoms which are transient, generally lasting for less than 10 days. The maximum incidence was reported on the 4th day of postpartum. It therefore appears that depressive states in mothers beyond 10 days after delivery may correspond to more serious psychiatric disorders of postpartum such as postpartum depression or psychosis and should be promptly managed. However, maternity preparatory classes should be implemented, prenatal counselling and psychological support reinforced, as prevention against the baby blues.
| Published in | Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care (Volume 6, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20200601.14 |
| Page(s) | 20-23 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Baby Blues, Maternity Blues, Postpartum, Cameroon
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APA Style
Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo. (2020). Epidemio-clinical Profile of the Baby Blues in Cameroonian Women. Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care, 6(1), 20-23. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfmhc.20200601.14
ACS Style
Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo. Epidemio-clinical Profile of the Baby Blues in Cameroonian Women. J. Fam. Med. Health Care 2020, 6(1), 20-23. doi: 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20200601.14
AMA Style
Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo. Epidemio-clinical Profile of the Baby Blues in Cameroonian Women. J Fam Med Health Care. 2020;6(1):20-23. doi: 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20200601.14
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Download@article{10.11648/j.jfmhc.20200601.14,
author = {Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo},
title = {Epidemio-clinical Profile of the Baby Blues in Cameroonian Women},
journal = {Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care},
volume = {6},
number = {1},
pages = {20-23},
doi = {10.11648/j.jfmhc.20200601.14},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfmhc.20200601.14},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jfmhc.20200601.14},
abstract = {Background: The baby blues may be defined as a mild and transient depressive state occurring in newly delivered women. It is considered as the most precocious and benign emotional disorder of the puerperium. Objective: This study aimed at describing the epidemiological and clinical aspects of this condition in Cameroonian women. Method: A cross-sectional analysis of women recruited from January to April 2015 in two teaching hospitals of Yaoundé, Cameroon was done. The survey covered 321 newly delivered women who answered the Kennerley and Gath blues questionnaire within the first ten days of postpartum. Demographic information, medical, obstetrical, psychosocial and neonatal data were equally obtained. Results: The prevalence of baby blues in our series was 33.3%, the greatest number of affected women experienced the condition after 4 days into postpartum. The most occurring symptoms were women being tearful (91 patients, 85%), ups and downs in the mood (89 patients, 83.2%), changeable in spirit (84 patients, 78.5%), being mentally tensed (70 patients, 65.4%), depressed (69 patients, 64.5%), and being anxious (65 patients, 60.7%). Conclusion: The baby blues is common in Cameroonian women, occurring in close to one mother out of three. Newly delivered women manifest with mild depressive symptoms which are transient, generally lasting for less than 10 days. The maximum incidence was reported on the 4th day of postpartum. It therefore appears that depressive states in mothers beyond 10 days after delivery may correspond to more serious psychiatric disorders of postpartum such as postpartum depression or psychosis and should be promptly managed. However, maternity preparatory classes should be implemented, prenatal counselling and psychological support reinforced, as prevention against the baby blues.},
year = {2020}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Epidemio-clinical Profile of the Baby Blues in Cameroonian Women AU - Georges Pius Kamsu Moyo Y1 - 2020/03/02 PY - 2020 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfmhc.20200601.14 DO - 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20200601.14 T2 - Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care JF - Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care JO - Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care SP - 20 EP - 23 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2469-8342 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfmhc.20200601.14 AB - Background: The baby blues may be defined as a mild and transient depressive state occurring in newly delivered women. It is considered as the most precocious and benign emotional disorder of the puerperium. Objective: This study aimed at describing the epidemiological and clinical aspects of this condition in Cameroonian women. Method: A cross-sectional analysis of women recruited from January to April 2015 in two teaching hospitals of Yaoundé, Cameroon was done. The survey covered 321 newly delivered women who answered the Kennerley and Gath blues questionnaire within the first ten days of postpartum. Demographic information, medical, obstetrical, psychosocial and neonatal data were equally obtained. Results: The prevalence of baby blues in our series was 33.3%, the greatest number of affected women experienced the condition after 4 days into postpartum. The most occurring symptoms were women being tearful (91 patients, 85%), ups and downs in the mood (89 patients, 83.2%), changeable in spirit (84 patients, 78.5%), being mentally tensed (70 patients, 65.4%), depressed (69 patients, 64.5%), and being anxious (65 patients, 60.7%). Conclusion: The baby blues is common in Cameroonian women, occurring in close to one mother out of three. Newly delivered women manifest with mild depressive symptoms which are transient, generally lasting for less than 10 days. The maximum incidence was reported on the 4th day of postpartum. It therefore appears that depressive states in mothers beyond 10 days after delivery may correspond to more serious psychiatric disorders of postpartum such as postpartum depression or psychosis and should be promptly managed. However, maternity preparatory classes should be implemented, prenatal counselling and psychological support reinforced, as prevention against the baby blues. VL - 6 IS - 1 ER -
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