Correlation Between the Great East Japan Earthquake and Postpartum Depression: A Study in Miyako, Iwate, Japan.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the correlation between the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and postpartum depression among perinatal subjects in the Miyako region of Iwate, an area damaged by earthquakes and tsunamis.

Methods: We retrospectively compared the percentages of women with scores ≥9 on the Japanese version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) among 3 groups of women who gave birth prior to the disaster (before-disaster group: n=141), within 3 months after the disaster (within-3-months group: n=70), and 4-6 months after the disaster (4-6-months group: n=89) at the Iwate Prefectural Miyako Hospital. The risk factors for EPDS scores ≥9 were estimated with multivariate logistic regression analyses.