Pregnancy-associated mortality, defined as the death of a woman during pregnancy or within one year of the termination of pregnancy, is increasing in Massachusetts. Â In 2012, there were 30.4 deaths/100,000 live births. In 2014, the [...]
While we have identified various sociodemographic variables as factors which modulate vulnerability to menopausal symptoms, no studies (to my knowledge) have looked at how a history of intimate partner violence (IPV) or other traumatic exposures [...]
What’s worse? Prenatal exposure to antidepressant medications or exposure to maternal depression?  Hutchison and colleagues observe that worse executive functioning was observed in the 6-year-old children of mothers with higher levels of depressive symptoms.  Prenatal [...]
Earlier this year the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) released a revised Committee Opinion calling for a new paradigm for postpartum care in the United States. Â Moving away from the single postpartum check [...]
While we have focused a great deal on the emergence of mood disorders during pregnancy and the postpartum period, there is a growing body of literature that indicates that anxiety symptoms are prevalent during this [...]
We have long known that postpartum depression may have negative effects on the child and may contribute to deficits in social development and emotional regulation. Exactly what mediates these effects is not so clear; however, [...]
Using data from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health between 2002 and 2016, researchers sought to study changes in the use of alcohol, cigarette, and cannabis during pregnancy in a nationally representative sample [...]
Why do we need to identify and treat women with depression who experience during pregnancy? We have long known that postpartum depression can negatively affect the development of children, the large study from Tuovinen and [...]
Concerns regarding a link between antidepressant use during pregnancy and autism emerged when two epidemiologic studies demonstrated an association between prenatal exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants (SSRIs) with an increased risk of autism [...]
This study is something to keep in mind when we evaluate neonatal outcomes in mothers taking psychotropic medication. Â We typically consider maternal, but not paternal, characteristics as factors which may affect neonatal outcomes; however, this [...]
