Maternal depressive symptoms and maternal-fetal attachment in gestational diabetes

Objective: To answer the question, Is a high-risk pregnancy diagnosis such as gestational diabetes associated with depressive symptoms or altered maternal-fetal attachment in pregnant women? Design: The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Cranley Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale were administered to 30 pregnant women with gestational diabetes. These scores were compared with scores for two control groups: a high-risk control group consisting of 30 pregnant women at risk for preterm delivery, and a control group of 30 women with uncomplicated pregnancies. Results: Fifty-six percent of the gestational diabetic women had scores indicating depressive symptoms, as did 70% of the prematurity controls and 33.3% of the low-risk controls. These differences were not statistically significant. There were no differences in the scores from the Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale among the three groups. Conclusion: There is a high frequency of depressive symptoms in the inner-city pregnant population studied, which was not statistically significantly different in the three groups. This warrants further investigation.