A recent study from Canada has observed higher rates of depression in mothers who have children after the age of 40. The prevalence of depression after delivery was about threefold higher in women aged 40 to 44 years as compared to women aged 30 to 35 years. This relationship was even stronger after controlling for potential confounders, including education level, marital status, and chronic illness (adjusted OR 3.72; 95% CI 2.15 to 6.41).
Maternal psychiatric illness can profoundly affect how a mother interacts with her child and is a risk factor for impaired mother-infant bonding, which may include a spectrum of difficulties: decreased maternal affective involvement, increased irritability, [...]
The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was modified by adding lifetime PND screening questions, assessing worst episode, and symptom timing of onset, in order to assess the lifetime prevalence of perinatal depression. Subjects from the [...]
A recent report suggests that epidural labor analgesia is associated with a decreased risk of postpartum depression (PPD). This prospective study included 214 pregnant women from Beijing, China who were preparing for a vaginal delivery. Epidural [...]
Pregnancy is a time of risk for women with histories of major depression. In a study where 201 women with histories of recurrent depression were followed prospectively through pregnancy, 43% experienced a relapse of major depression during pregnancy. Relapse rates were highest in the group of women who elected to discontinue antidepressant treatment proximate to conception (68% as compared to 26% in the group of women who maintained antidepressant treatment).
This week in the New York Times, there is a two-part story on maternal mental illness. Highlighting the experience of two women who became ill during the postpartum period, the articles focus on the range of disorders which can emerge during the postpartum period -- not only depression, but bipolar disorder, anxiety, OCD, and psychosis.
A recent study investigated the effectiveness of two pediatric primary care interventions for reducing the risk for postpartum depressive symptoms. The researchers tested two interventions designed to promote parental responsiveness: Video Interaction Project (VIP) is [...]
As many as 30% of people suffering from depression do not respond to antidepressant treatment1. When treatment options are exhausted psychiatrists often turn to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). An electric current is used to cause a brief seizure in the brain. Although this is a relatively safe method of treatment, impairments of both cognition and memory are potential side effects2.
Most studies evaluating the prevalence of perinatal depression are cross-sectional, meaning that depressive symptoms are measured at a single point in time. Less information is available regarding the trajectory of perinatal depression. In obstetric populations, it seems that there are women with briefer episodes of milder postpartum depressive symptoms, while others have more persistent and debilitating depressive symptoms after childbirth. Other women experience depression during pregnancy. Several studies suggest that there is considerable heterogeneity among women who experience depressive symptoms during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
An intervention teaching new parents about normal infant sleeping and crying patterns and providing them with techniques for infant settling improves mothers' depression scores. There were no differences in scores on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 4 months, but at 6 months, caregivers in the intervention group were almost half as likely to score higher than 9 on the EPDS, with 7.9% scoring higher than 9 in the intervention group vs. 12.9% in the control cohort (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 0.57).
