Association between pregnancy, and lactation after delivery and depressive symptoms in premenopausal Korean women and multilevel approach according to household composition: Result from the Korea Community Health Survey in 2019.

To evaluate the association between pregnancy, lactation after delivery and depressive symptoms in Korean women and to explore the associations according to household composition. We included 34,321 premenopausal women from the Korea Community Health Survey in 2019, a population-based cross-sectional study. We categorized the premenopausal women into 3 groups by questions about whether they were currently in menstruation: reference (women who were not pregnant or lactating after delivery), pregnancy, and lactation after delivery. Depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 ≥ 5) were assessed through questionnaires with trained interviewers. Multiple logistic regression analysis were performed. Among 34,321 participants, 20,790 (60.6 %) had depressive symptoms. In the fully adjusted model, we found a significant association between mild depressive symptoms in lactated women after delivery (odds ratio [OR], 95 % confidence interval [CI] = 1.32 [1.04–1.65]) compared to a reference. Compared to reference, the association between women who were lactation after delivery and depressive symptoms was particularly noticeable in women living in families of 2-generation (OR, 95 % CI = 1.29 [1.00–1.65]) and 3-generation (OR, 95 % CI = 2.53 [1.31–4.89]). We utilized self-reported data on pregnancy and lactation after delivery, this exposure variable may be underestimated. Our study observed associations between lactated women after delivery and depressive symptoms. This association was more pronounced in women living in 3-generation. • Lactated women after delivery were significantly associated with depressive symptoms. • Stratified by household composition, lactated women with three-generation families were associated with depressive symptom. • We utilized nationally representative data, i.e., Korea Community Health Survey (KCHS), to evaluate the mental health of reproductive aged-women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]