Postpartum blues syndrome: Serum zinc and psychosocial factors

Abstract

Objective

This study aimed to describe the relationship between serum zinc factor and psychological factors on baby blues syndrome in mothers who have a family of smokers.

Methods

This research was analytic observational with a cross-sectional design. The research was conducted in Siti Fatimah Hospital Makassar with 70 samples. Smoking and psychosocial aspects were measured using a standard questionnaire. Measurement of serum zinc taken from blood plasma and then examined using the colorimetric method. Postpartum depression was measured using the Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale (EDPS). The data were analyzed by T-test and Spearman's rank correlation.

Results

The results showed that zinc levels in mothers who had a family of smokers were lower (13.61 μg/dl) compared to mothers who had non-smoker families (10.01 μg/dl), but the difference was not significant (p-value = 0.063). Likewise, psychosocial factors have no significant difference. The results of the study also showed there is no correlation between the serum zinc and postpartum blues syndrome on the mothers of the smoking family (r = 0.096), and non-smoking family (r = 0.639).

Conclusion

The zinc level in mothers who had a family of smokers were lower than mothers who had non-smokers families and there is no correlation between serum zinc level and postpartum blues syndrome.