(P07-019-23) Nutritional Factors and Cross-National Postpartum Depression Prevalence: An Updated Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression of 412 Studies From 46 Countries

Objectives: We tested whether cross-national variation in PPD prevalence is associated with cross-national variation in the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSB), seafood, yogurt, fiber, fruits, and vegetables.

Methods: To estimate national rates of PPD prevalence, we conducted an updated systematic review of all papers reporting PPD prevalence using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale between 2016-2021 and combined our findings with a previous meta-analysis by Hahn-Holbrook et al. (2018) of articles published between 1985-2015. PPD prevalence and methods were extracted from each study. Random effects meta-analysis was used to estimate global and national PPD prevalence. To test for dietary predictors, we extracted data from the Global Dietary Database. Random effects meta-regression was used to test whether between-country and within-country variation in dietary factors predicted variation in PPD prevalence, controlling for economic and methodological variables.

Results: 412 studies of 792,055 women from 46 countries were identified. The global pooled prevalence of PPD was 19.18% (95% confidence interval: 18.02 to 20.34%), ranging from 3% in Singapore to 44% in South Africa. Countries that consumed more SSBs had higher rates of PPD (R² = 0.34); Moreover, in years when higher rates of SSB were consumed in a country, there were correspondingly higher rates of PPD in that country (R² = 0.13).

Conclusions: The global prevalence of PPD is greater than previous calculations, and drastically varies by country. Sugar sweetened beverage consumption explained some of the national variation in PPD prevalence.

Funding Sources: No funding was received for this research.