Depression risk years after birth
Wednesday May 21st, 2014
New mothers should be kept under surveillance for several years to ensure they stay mentally healthy, researchers say today.
It
comes after researchers found depression after pregnancy lingered for
up to four years.
Based in Melbourne, Australia, the study looked at the rate of depression among mothers from early pregnancy to four years after giving birth. Questionnaires were given to 1,507 pregnant women at six public hospitals in Melbourne, and again at three, six, 12, and 18 months, and four years after the birth. Depression was assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale.
Nearly a third of women had depressive symptoms during the first four years after having a baby. What's more, the rate of depressive symptoms was higher when the child was aged four than at any time in the baby's first year. Mothers who did not have another baby in those four years were twice as likely to have depression as those who did (22.9% versus 11.3%).
In terms of depression risk factors at four years, the strongest predictors were depression in pregnancy or in the first year of motherhood, young maternal age (18 to 24 years), stressful life events and/or social adversity in the year before the four year follow-up, intimate partner violence and low income. Intimate partner abuse in particular was strongly linked to maternal depression when their child was four years old.
The study is published today (21 May) in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Researcher Dr Hannah Woolhouse of the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Victoria, Australia, calls for a greater focus on maternal mental health.
She says: "It is likely that current systems of maternal mental health surveillance in Australia and the UK will miss more than half the women experiencing depression in the early years of parenting."
The UK Royal College of Midwives welcomed the findings.
Janet Fyle, of the college, said: “Our recent report on maternal mental health highlighted the need for better identification and appropriate referral of women with mental health issues relating to the birth of a child. This research vindicates our position.
"This research highlights that maternity services are failing women affected by mental health problems repeatedly and this leads to unnecessary suffering and distress for women and their families.
“We know that this is a high priority for midwives and maternity staff and it is clear they want to deliver a high quality service. They are often prevented by doing this either by the system itself or a simple lack of resources, such as midwives and specialist mental health midwives."
Woolhouse, H. et al. Maternal depression from early pregnancy to four years postpartum in a prospective pregnancy cohort study: implications for primary health care. BJOG 21 May 2014 doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.12837 [abstract]
Tags: Australia | Childbirth and Pregnancy | Mental Health | Nursing & Midwifery | UK News | Women's Health & Gynaecology
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