{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T15:23:24Z","timestamp":1785425004655,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":17,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,14]],"date-time":"2019-08-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1565740800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,14]],"date-time":"2019-08-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1565740800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sci Rep"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>This pilot study compares symptoms of depression and risk factors amongst Syrian refugees and low-income Lebanese mothers accessing a primary care centre in Beirut between January and June 2018. Women who gave birth in the previous two years or who were currently pregnant were included in the study. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Arabic Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Correlations between EPDS score and sociodemographic and mental health variables were analysed using Pearson\u2019s coefficient and ANOVA. 35 Syrian and 25 Lebanese women were recruited, 15 of whom were pregnant. EPDS scores were high in the whole group (mean 16.12 (SD 7.72), n\u2009=\u200960). Scores were higher amongst Syrian refugees than Lebanese mothers (17.77, SD 7.66 vs, 13.80, SD 7.34, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009&lt;\u20090.05). Illegal residence (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009&lt;\u20090.001), domestic violence (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009&lt;\u20090.05) and a history of mental illness (p\u2009&lt;\u20090.01) were associated with higher scores. This pilot study demonstrates high rates of symptoms of depression amongst mothers in this population. Symptoms were particularly prevalent amongst Syrian refugees; three-quarters were \u2018probably depressed\u2019 and would warrant psychiatric assessment. This highlights the importance of improved mental healthcare for refugee mothers, the importance of addressing the social determinants of maternal mental health and further research into the effects of depression on these women and their children.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-019-48247-5","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,14]],"date-time":"2019-08-14T10:02:36Z","timestamp":1565776956000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":28,"title":["High rates of maternal depression amongst Syrian refugees in Lebanon - a pilot study"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Kerrie","family":"Stevenson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Reina","family":"Alameddine","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ghaith","family":"Rukbi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5545-9594","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mario","family":"Chahrouri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jinan","family":"Usta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bassem","family":"Saab","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Phillip","family":"Bennett","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Vivette","family":"Glover","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rebecca M.","family":"Reynolds","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"48247_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1186\/1472-6874-14-25","volume":"14","author":"A Reese Masterson","year":"2014","unstructured":"Reese Masterson, A., Usta, J., Gupta, J. & Ettinger, A. Assessment of reproductive health and violence against women among displaced Syrians in Lebanon. BMC Women\u2019s Health. 14, 25, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1186\/1472-6874-14-25 (2014).","journal-title":"BMC Women\u2019s Health."},{"key":"48247_CR2","unstructured":"United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Situation Syria Regional Refugee Response, https:\/\/data2.unhcr.org\/en\/situations\/syria (2018)."},{"key":"48247_CR3","unstructured":"The World Bank. Refugee population by country or territory of asylum, https:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/indicator\/SM.POP.REFG?locations=LB (2018)."},{"key":"48247_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"255","DOI":"10.1002\/wmh3.231","volume":"9","author":"G Samari","year":"2017","unstructured":"Samari, G. Syrian Refugee Women\u2019s Health in Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan and Recommendations for Improved Practice. World Medical & Health Policy. 9, 255\u2013274, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/wmh3.231 (2017).","journal-title":"World Medical & Health Policy."},{"key":"48247_CR5","unstructured":"Yan, V. Agencies refute reports of 300,000 pregnant Syrian refugees, http:\/\/www.dailystar.com.lb\/\/News\/Lebanon-News\/2017\/May-05\/404560-agencies-refute-reports-of-300000-pregnant-syrian-refugees.ashx (2018)."},{"key":"48247_CR6","unstructured":"United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Health access and utilization survey among Syrian refugees in Lebanon, https:\/\/data2.unhcr.org\/en\/documents\/download\/61329 (2017)."},{"key":"48247_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"959","DOI":"10.1007\/s00737-016-0633-5","volume":"19","author":"C Dennis","year":"2016","unstructured":"Dennis, C., Merry, L., Stewart, D. & Gagnon, A. Prevalence, continuation, and identification of postpartum depressive symptomatology among refugee, asylum-seeking, non-refugee immigrant, and Canadian-born women: results from a prospective cohort study. Arch Womens Ment Hlth. 19, 959\u2013967, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s00737-016-0633-5 (2016).","journal-title":"Arch Womens Ment Hlth."},{"issue":"1","key":"48247_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"240","DOI":"10.1186\/s12884-017-1433-2","volume":"17","author":"A Ahmed","year":"2017","unstructured":"Ahmed, A., Bowen, A. & Feng, C. Maternal depression in Syrian refugee women recently moved to Canada: a preliminary study. BMC Pregnancy and Childb. 17(1), 240, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1186\/s12884-017-1433-2 (2017).","journal-title":"BMC Pregnancy and Childb."},{"key":"48247_CR9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bpobgyn.2013.08.017","volume":"28","author":"V Glover","year":"2014","unstructured":"Glover, V. Maternal depression, anxiety and stress during pregnancy and child outcome; what needs to be done. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol. 28, 25\u201335, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.bpobgyn.2013.08.017 (2014).","journal-title":"Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol."},{"issue":"6","key":"48247_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"519","DOI":"10.1002\/nur.21919","volume":"41","author":"KI Mohammad","year":"2018","unstructured":"Mohammad, K. I., Abu Awad, D., Creedy, D. K. & Gamble, J. Postpartum depression symptoms among Syrian refugee women living in Jordan. Res Nurs Health. 41(6), 519\u2013524, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/nur.21919 (2018).","journal-title":"Res Nurs Health."},{"issue":"2","key":"48247_CR11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"139","DOI":"10.2471\/BLT.11.091850","volume":"90","author":"Jane Fisher","year":"2011","unstructured":"Fisher J. et al. Prevalence and determinants of common perinatal mental disorders in women in low- and lower-middle-income countries: a systematic review. Bull World Health Organ. 90(2):139\u2013149H. 10.2471%2FBLT.11.091850 (2012).","journal-title":"Bulletin of the World Health Organization"},{"key":"48247_CR12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"474","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00789142","volume":"32","author":"R Ghubash","year":"1997","unstructured":"Ghubash, R. The validity of the Arabic Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 32, 474\u2013476, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/BF00789142 (1997).","journal-title":"Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol."},{"key":"48247_CR13","unstructured":"IBM Corporation (2016). IBM SPSS Statistics for Macintosh, Version 24.0. Armonk, NY, https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/uk-en\/products\/spss-statistics."},{"key":"48247_CR14","unstructured":"United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Vulnerability assessment of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, https:\/\/www.unhcr.org\/lb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2018\/12\/VASyR-2018.pdf (2018)."},{"key":"48247_CR15","unstructured":"Human Rights Watch. Lebanon Pass Bill to End Child Marriage, https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2017\/04\/12\/lebanon-pass-bill-end-child-marriage (2017)."},{"key":"48247_CR16","unstructured":"United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. Third periodic report of States Parties: Lebanon, https:\/\/documents-dds-ny.un.org\/doc\/UNDOC\/GEN\/N06\/437\/44\/PDF\/N0643744.pdf?OpenElement (2006)."},{"key":"48247_CR17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"202","DOI":"10.1016\/S2215-0366(16)00055-9","volume":"3","author":"R Chammay","year":"2016","unstructured":"Chammay, R., Karam, E. & Ammar, W. Mental health reform in Lebanon and the Syrian crisis. The Lancet Psychiat. 3, 202\u2013203, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/S2215-0366(16)00055-9 (2016).","journal-title":"The Lancet Psychiat."}],"container-title":["Scientific Reports"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-019-48247-5.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-019-48247-5","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-019-48247-5.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,17]],"date-time":"2022-12-17T12:35:38Z","timestamp":1671280538000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-019-48247-5"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,14]]},"references-count":17,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,12]]}},"alternative-id":["48247"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41598-019-48247-5","relation":{},"ISSN":["2045-2322"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2045-2322","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,8,14]]},"assertion":[{"value":"28 November 2018","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"30 July 2019","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"14 August 2019","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"Dr. K. Stevenson\u2019s work was funded by a National Institute of Health Research Academic Foundation post at Imperial College London\u2019s Biomedical Research Centre, Dr K Stevenson also acts as an unpaid advocate for Lightforce International Ministries, a Non-Governmental Organisation. The funders played no role in the conceptualization, design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The other authors declare no competing financial or non-financial interests.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing Interests"}}],"article-number":"11849"}}