Postpartum Depressed Women in COVID-19 Pandemic Quarantine

Pregnancy and childbirth constitute major personal, social, physiological, and emotional events. Postpartum depression (PPD) contributes considerably to the burden of disease among women of childbearing age. The symptoms of PPD include sluggishness, fatigue, sadness, hopelessness, helplessness, and worthlessness. Apart from these symptoms, women often have problems with sleeping, changes in appetite, difficulties in concentrating, crying for no reason, lack of interest in the baby, feeling very anxious about the baby, feeling of being a bad mother, and loss of interest or pleasure (1). The prevalence of PPD in developinganddeveloped countries rangesfrom1.9% to 82.1% and 5.2% to 74.0%, respectively, using self-reported questionnaires. Untreated PPD may lead to untoward consequences affecting the mother, child, and family as a whole (2). The pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread like a wildfire. By the January 23, 2021, 96,877,399 cases and 2,098,879 deaths were confirmed, with a crude mortality rate of 2.17% (3). The pandemic of COVID-19 has led to severe and unprecedented economic and health consequences and has divested businesses and increased unemployment globally. In its latest economic forecast, the Organisation for EconomicCo- operationandDevelopment said the world economy will contract by 4.5 percent this year — an upward revision from a prediction made in June that pointed to a 6 percent decline in gross domestic product (4). The physical and psychological effects of this pandemic, such as stress, anxiety, and depression, are well documented (5). It is expected that malnutrition due to food insecurity and poverty, child and sexual abuse, violence against women, unwanted pregnancies, especially in the teenage group, and emotional trauma may be further aggravated by school closure and lockdowns. With attention to the enormous impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the individual and society, the magnitude of this disaster and its devastation needs critical attention especially in the developing world (6).