Aims: Although quite a few studies have been conducted in Turkey regarding postpartum depression, there is still limited data available on depression during pregnancy. The studies indicate that the prevalence of postpartum depression in Turkey is between 14 % and 40 %. This ratio was reported to be between 12 % and 36 % in studies that have looked at the frequency of depressive symptoms during pregnancy. In this study, our aim is to identify the prevalence of depressive disorders in women in the first trimester of their pregnancy, in a province in Eastern Anatolia Region, where rates of depression in women is reported to be higher in comparison to other regions.

Methods: A total of 463 women who were in the first trimester of their pregnancy were randomly selected for this study. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was administered to participants for screening. Patients were diagnosed clinically via the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID).

Results: The prevalence of depressive disorders in the first trimester was found to be 16.8 % in this study. Out of the 463 participants, 57 (12.3 %) of them had major depressive disorder, 7 (1.5 %) of them had double depression, 12 (2.6 %) of them had minor depressive disorder and 2 (0.4 %) of them had dysthymia.

Conclusion: Depression during pregnancy is a common, serious health problem for both women and infants. It appears that evaluating women in terms of depressive disorders in the first trimester of their pregnancy may help in preventing any of the negative consequences that may arise later in the pregancy or in the postpartum period.