Women with History of Depression 20 Times More Likely To Have Postpartum Depression
A study of almost all women who gave birth in Sweden between 1997 and 2008 reports that women with a history of depression are 21.03 times more likely to suffer from postpartum depression than those without such a history. The 2017 article by Michael E. Silverman and colleagues in the journal Depression and Anxiety reports that advanced age and gestational diabetes also increased the likelihood of postpartum depression.
Whether a woman had gone through a depression in the past also affected her other risk factors for postpartum depression. Among women who had been depressed before, having diabetes before pregnancy and having a “mild” pre-term delivery were risk factors for postpartum depression. In contrast, among women with no history of depression, young age, having an instrument-assisted or caesarean delivery, and “moderate” pre-term delivery were risk factors for postpartum depression.
Rates of postpartum depression decreased one month after delivery.
Editor’s Note: About one in five women in the general population experience postpartum depression. All new mothers should be screened for postpartum depression, but especially those with a history of depression. Instituting supportive measures may help prevent an episode.
In Small Open Study, Dietary Supplement Improves Post Partum Blues
Post-partum depression affects 13% of new mothers, but little is known about how to prevent it. Doctors are researching ways of reducing post-partum blues, which can occur 4–6 days after delivery, when levels of the enzyme monoamine oxidase-A are high. At a 2015 scientific meeting, researchers led by Yekta Dowlati of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at the University of Toronto reported that a nutritional supplement designed to counteract the high levels of monoamine oxidase-A improved depression among 17 healthy women who had recently given birth, compared to 16 new mothers who did not receive the supplement. The supplement contained 2g of tryptophan and 10g of tyrosine, both amino acids found in protein-rich foods, plus blueberry juice and a blueberry extract.
Low Oxytocin Linked to Depression in Moms
At a panel at the 2015 meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, researcher Andrea Gonzales described her team’s study of mechanisms related to postpartum depression and the bonding hormone oxytocin. In the study of 26 women at eight months postpartum, the team examined whether there were connections between a mother’s levels of oxytocin at baseline and after interacting with her child, her mood symptoms, and whether she was mistreated in childhood.
Those women who scored low on a history of maltreatment in childhood had bigger increases in oxytocin in their blood and saliva after interacting with their children. Those with high trauma scores but low levels of depression also saw big boosts in oxytocin after seeing their children. Those women who had both a history of trauma in childhood and current depressive symptoms did not get as big a boost of oxytocin after interacting with their children.
Gonzales and colleagues concluded that postpartum depression is linked to dysregulation of oxytocin levels, and that a history of trauma in the mother’s childhood can make this worse.
The researchers hope that these findings may make it easier to identify which women are at risk for postpartum depression, and that they may point to possible treatments in the future.
Postpartum depression is a problem for about 13% of mothers in the year after they give birth, and mother-child bonding may be disturbed if a mother is depressed. One way to foster better bonding between a depressed mother and her newborn is to use video feedback. A mother views video of herself interacting with her child while a trained professional helps her identify opportunities for greater physical contact.
