Shakeel N, et al. - Assuming the adverse effects of postpartum depression (PPD) on both mother and child, researchers investigated the prevalence of postpartum depressive symptoms, PPDS, identified associations with ethnicity and with the level of social integration. The study sample comprised a cohort of 643 pregnant women (58 % ethnic minorities) attending primary antenatal care in Oslo. They noted postpartum depressive symptom prevalence of 9.3% for the whole sample; 4.8% for Western European women and 12.7% for the ethnic minorities. Middle Eastern and South Asian women displayed the highest prevalence. Majority of the Western European women with postpartum depressive symptoms also had depressive symptoms during pregnancy when compared to minority women. For postpartum depressive symptoms, ethnic minority background was the independent risk factor. Significant risk factors for postpartum depressive symptoms also included recent adverse life events, lack of social support and depressive symptoms in the index pregnancy. On replacing ethnicity in the models, low social integration was noted to be an independent risk factor for postpartum depressive symptoms.