Complicated pregnancy linked to depression
Thursday August 5th, 2010
Women who experience complications during pregnancy and birth face an increased risk of postnatal depression, researchers warned yesterday.
Complications can include medical problems such as pre-eclampsia, deep vein thrombosis, problems with the baby such as poor growth and foetal distress, and problems during labour leading to emergency caesarean section.
Pauline Jansen and colleagues at Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, investigated the risk of postnatal depression for various complications. They analysed figures from 4,941 pregnant women taking part in the Generation R Study of multi-ethnic urban families.
Mothers were given the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale two months after birth. Scores can range from zero, meaning no depression, to 30, meaning very depressed.
This showed that several complications were linked to postnatal depression. The risk of increased with an increasing number of complications.
Overall, eight per cent of the women were diagnosed with postnatal depression. Experiencing one complication more than doubled the risk, and five or more complications increased it more than five-fold.
Certain complications carried a higher risk of depression than others. These were pre-eclampsia, hospitalisation during pregnancy, emergency caesarean section, concern about foetal distress and admission of the baby to special care.
Rates of depression were higher among women who were younger, poorly educated and of non-Western origin. Full results are published today (August 4) in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Ms Jansen said: "These are important findings, particularly given the high prevalence of some of the perinatal complications." She added that an increased awareness among health care practitioners "might contribute to quicker diagnoses of postpartum depression."
Jansen, P. et al. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, published online August 4, 2010.
Tags: Childbirth and Pregnancy | Europe | Mental Health | Nursing & Midwifery | Women’s Health & Gynaecology
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