Relationship Between Frequency of Remote Visitation and Postpartum Depression in Mothers of Hospitalized Neonates During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Objective: To explore the relationship between symptoms of postpartum depression and the number of remote visitations among mothers of infants in the NICU.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: NICU in a medical university in Iwate, Japan.

Participants: A total of 89 mothers of infants who spent more than 1 month in the NICU from June 2021 to December 2022.

Methods: Participants completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 4 days and 1 month after birth. We used a one-way analysis of variance with Tukey-Kramer or Games-Howell post hoc tests to examine differences in postpartum depression among three groups based on the frequency of remote visitation: frequent visitation, rare visitation, or no visitation.

Results: Of the 89 mothers, 41 scored 9 points or higher on the EPDS conducted 4 days after birth; among them, 14 did not visit, 13 rarely visited, and 14 frequently visited the NICU remotely through a web camera. The rare visitation group had significantly higher EPDS scores 1 month after birth (M = 9.7, SD = 5.2) than the frequent (M = 5.3, SD = 3.7) and no visitation (M = 5.1, SD = 4.2) groups (p < .05). The rare visitation group demonstrated lower improvement on the EPDS than the frequent and no visitation groups (nonsignificant).

Conclusion: It is unclear whether remote visitation reduces symptoms of postpartum depression; however, the frequency of remote visitation could be assessed to identify at-risk mothers in need of social support.

Keywords: COVID-19; neonatal intensive care; postpartum depression; psychiatric status rating scale; telemedicine.