Cluster Analysis on the Mental Health States in a Community Sample of Young Women During Pre-Pregnancy, Pregnancy, or the Postpartum Period

Lim, Hyun Ju; Moon, Eunsoo; Kim, Kyungwon; Suh, Hwagyu; Park, Jeonghyun; Kim, Du-Ri; Park, Jong-Hwan; Shin, Myung-Jun; Lee, Yean-Hwa

doi:2023.20.5.445

Psychiatry Investig > Volume 20(5); 2023 > Article

Original Article

Psychiatry Investigation 2023;20(5):445-451.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30773/pi.2023.0002 Published online May 25, 2023.

Cluster Analysis on the Mental Health States in a Community Sample of Young Women During Pre-Pregnancy, Pregnancy, or the Postpartum Period

Hyun Ju Lim^1,2

, Eunsoo Moon^2,3

, Kyungwon Kim²

, Hwagyu Suh²

, Jeonghyun Park²

, Du-Ri Kim⁴

, Jong-Hwan Park⁴

, Myung-Jun Shin⁵

, Yean-Hwa Lee⁶

^¹Department of Psychology, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, Republic of Korea
^²Department of Psychiatry and Biomedical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, Republic of Korea
^³Department of Psychiatry, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan, Republic of Korea
^⁴Health Convergence Medicine Laboratory, Biomedical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, Republic of Korea
^⁵Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, Republic of Korea
^⁶SY Inotech, Busan, Republic of Korea

Correspondence: Eunsoo Moon ,Tel: +82-51-240-7303, Fax: +82-51-248-3648, Email: esmun@hanmail.net

Received: January 4, 2023 Revised: February 15, 2023 Accepted: February 23, 2023 Published online: May 25, 2023

Abstract

Objective
It is necessary to identify the mental health types of young women considering the importance of the mental health during the peripartum period. This study aimed to classify the mental health types in a community sample of young women with pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, or the postpartum period.
Methods
A total of 293 young women during pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, or the postpartum period were included in this study. The clinical characteristics of depression, anxiety, perceived stress, and quality of life were assessed. The clinical characteristics of the subject were classified by cluster analysis and compared by analysis of variance.
Results
From the cluster analysis, the subjects were classified into three groups. Cluster 1 showed significantly lower depression and anxiety and higher quality of life than those of cluster 2 and 3. Cluster 2 demonstrated significantly higher depression and anxiety and lower quality of life than those of cluster 3 and 1. Cluster 3 represented the intermediate levels between cluster 2 and 1.
Conclusion
This study suggested that young women during pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, or the postpartum period might be in a good mental health group, a high-risk group requiring active monitoring, or a group in need of treatment. By monitoring mental health, the groups with high risk or requiring treatment could be discovered and proper management for prevention or improvement of mental health and quality of life can be provided.

Key words Mental health; Depression; Anxiety; Postpartum; Peripartum