This week there are some very interesting articles looking at the effects of negative childhood experiences on risk for postpartum depression and impaired mother-infant bonding. In a large population-based study, Meltzer-Brody and colleagues reported that adverse life events experienced during childhood, primarily the result of to parental psychopathology, are at increased risk of postpartum psychiatric illness. In another study, Macdonald and colleagues observed that adolescent-parent bonding problems were strongly predictive of women’s subsequent bonding problems with their own infants.
Ruta Nonacs, MD PhD
Meltzer-Brody S, Larsen JT, Petersen L, Guintivano J, Florio AD, Miller WC, Sullivan PF, Munk-Olsen T. Depress Anxiety. 2017 Nov 24.
Adverse events experienced during childhood increase risk for postpartum psychiatric illness. Greater numbers of adverse life events increases risk for postpartum psychiatric illness with an observed dose-response effect.
Macdonald JA, Youssef GJ, Phillips L, Spry E, Alway Y, Patton GC, Olsson CA. Arch Womens Ment Health. 2017 Sep 20.
Adolescent-parent bonding problems were strongly predictive of women’s subsequent bonding problems with their own infants. In particular, impaired postpartum maternal bonding was predicted by adolescent reports of low paternal care (12 months: OR=3.1, 95% CI 1.1-8.6) and high maternal control (12 months: OR=3.7, 95% CI 1.4-9.7).
Tabeshpour J, Sobhani F, Sadjadi SA, Hosseinzadeh H, Mohajeri SA, Rajabi O, Taherzadeh Z, Eslami S. Phytomedicine. 2017 Dec 1;36:145-152.
Mean BDI-II scores decreased from 20.3?±?5.7 to 8.4?±?3.7 for the saffron group (p?<?.0001) and from 19.8?±?3.2 to 15.1?±?5.4 for the placebo group (p?<?.01). In the final assessment, 96% of the saffron group were in remission compared to 43% of the placebo group (p?<?.01).
Guthrie KA, Larson JC, Ensrud KE, Anderson GL, Carpenter JS, Freeman EW, Joffe H, LaCroix AZ, Manson JE, Morin CM, Newton KM, Otte J, Reed SD, McCurry SM. Sleep. 2017 Nov 20.
This study indicates that CBT-I is more effective than medication and should be considered a first line treatment in healthy midlife women with insomnia symptoms and moderately bothersome VMS.
Neonatal Outcomes in a Medicaid Population With Opioid Dependence.
Brogly SB, Hernández-Diaz S, Regan E, Fadli E, Hahn KA, Werler MM. Am J Epidemiol. 2017 Nov 16.
Antidepressant use during pregnancy and childhood cancer in the offspring.
Momen NC, Munk-Olsen T, Li J, Ingstrup KG, Olsen J, Bergink V, Liu X. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2017 Nov 15.
Antidepressant use during pregnancy was not significantly associated with childhood cancer in general nor with leukaemia or nervous system tumours in specific.
Kobayashi M, Ogawa K, Morisaki N, Tani Y, Horikawa R and Fujiwara T. Front. Psychiatry. 2017, 8:241
Intake of EPA, DHA, and n-3PUFA intakes in late pregnancy did not affect risk for postpartum depression at both 1 and 6 months after delivery
Hahn-Holbrook J, Cornwell-Hinrichs T, Anaya I. Front. Psychiatry. Provisional acceptance: November 7, 2017.
In this meta-analysis, 308 studies of 304,449 women from 56 countries were identified. The global pooled prevalence of PPD was 17.5%, although significant heterogeneity across nations was observed, ranging from 3.10% (0.01% – 10.87%) in Singapore to 37.78% (30.95% – 44.83%) in Chile. Nations with significantly higher rates of income inequality, maternal mortality infant mortality, or women of childbearing age working > 40 hours a week have higher rates of PPD.
Zhang MW, Ho RC, Loh A, Wing T, Wynne O, Chan SWC, Car J, Fung DSS. BMJ Open. 2017 Nov 14. Free Article
Stability of depressive symptoms over 3 months post-partum.
Abdollahi F, Zarghami M, Sazlina SG, Lye MS. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2017 Feb;11(1):57-62.
Of those mothers who scored more than 12 on the EPDS during the third trimester of pregnancy, 277 (66.3%) and 221 (52.9%) had high EPDS at 2 and 12 weeks postpartum. Psychological distress (based upon the General Health Questionnaire), low maternal parental self-efficacy (based upon the Parental Expectation Survey) and perceived social isolation (based upon the Network Orientation Scale) were independent predictors of persistent depression.
Macdonald JA, Youssef GJ, Phillips L, Spry E, Alway Y, Patton GC, Olsson CA. Arch Womens Ment Health. 2017 Sep 20.
Adolescent-parent bonding problems were strongly predictive of women’s subsequent bonding problems with their own infants. In particular, impaired postpartum maternal bonding was predicted by adolescent reports of low paternal care (12 months: OR=3.1, 95% CI 1.1-8.6) and high maternal control (12 months: OR=3.7, 95% CI 1.4-9.7).
King L, Robins S, Chen G, Yerko V, Zhou Y, Nagy C, Feeley N, Gold I, Hayton B, Turecki G, Zelkowitz P. Horm Behav. 2017 Sep 19;96:84-94.
Maternal postnatal psychiatric symptoms and infant temperament affect early mother-infant bonding.
Nolvi S, Karlsson L, Bridgett DJ, Pajulo M, Tolvanen M, Karlsson H. Infant Behav Dev. 2016 May;43:13-23.
Mother-reported infant positive emotionality, measured by infant smiling was related to better mother-infant bonding. In contrast, infant negative emotionality, measured by infant distress, was related to lower quality of bonding
Forray A, Gilstad-Hayden K, Suppies C, Bogen D, Sofuoglu M, Yonkers KA. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2017 Dec;86:96-103.
Women taking progesterone were 1.8 times more likely to be abstinent during week 8 and took longer to relapse (10 vs. 4 weeks) compared to the placebo group, although these differences did not reach statistical significance.
Bergink V, Pop VJM, Nielsen PR, Agerbo E, Munk-Olsen T, Liu X. Psychol Med. 2017 Sep 20:1-9.
Women with first-onset postpartum psychiatric illness had a higher risk of autoimmune thyroid disease than women with no psychiatric disorders (IRR = 2.16, 95% CI: 1.45-3.20).
Family environment and psychopathology in offspring of parents with bipolar disorder.
Lau P, Hawes DJ, Hunt C, Frankland A, Roberts G, Wright A, Costa DSJ, Mitchell PB. J Affect Disord. 2018 Jan 15;226:12-20.
Low parental warmth and connection were associated with internalizing and externalizing problems as an independent risk factor, in addition to bipolar risk status. The parent-child relationship therefore warrants attention as a potential target for prevention strategies with such families.
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