A new study recently showed that many pregnant women were experiencing lingering depression and anxiety symptoms throughout their pregnancy and postpartum despite their use of antidepressants.
EurekAlert! reported the new Northwestern Medicine study also showed anxiety symptoms are typical in treated depressed women, with symptoms getting worse over time in some.
This is the initial study to gauge the different depression and anxiety trajectories in pregnant and postpartum women.
This is the first research to measure the trajectories of anxiety and depression in both pregnant and postpartum women.
Through pregnancy, 18 percent of the women were found to have minimal, 50 percent had mild, and 32 percent were found to have clinically relevant depressive symptoms.
Increased Risk of Childhood Developmental Disorder
According to Dr. Katherine Wisner, director of the Asher Center for the Study and Treatment of Depressive Disorders, this is the "first longitudinal data to show that many pregnant women" are reporting depression and anxiety symptoms during pregnancy and postpartum even though they opt to continue treatment with antidepressants.
Wisner, a professor of psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, also said the study lets them know that women need to be continuously observed during pregnancy and postpartum, and thus their clinicians can fit their treatment to ease their symptoms.
As indicated in a similar SciTechDaily report, Dr. Catherine Stika, co-author of the study, said and clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology in Northwestern and a Northwestern Medicine gynecologist said psychological and psychosocial factors are changing fast across childbearing.
Depression affects a woman's infant, as well. Wisner explained this is key as children exposed to a depressed mother have "an increased risk of childhood developmental disorder."
Effects of Serotonin for Depression Treatment
The new study published in Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice also showed that pregnant women using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors for their depression treatment exhibited sub-optimal health, including elevated body mass index or BMI, migraines, asthma, infertility, and thyroid disorders. A history of eating disorders forecasted increased depression trajectory scores.
Prenatal depression and anxiety are prevalent, impacting 20 percent of women during pregnancy and after birth. An approximated 500,000 pregnancies in the United States each year will lead to women with psychiatric disorders during pregnancy.
The prospective longitudinal observational cohort research included 88 pregnant women in all. These participants completed evaluations every four weeks from study entry until delivery, then at six and 14 weeks postpartum.
They were signed up at urban academic medical centers, including Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, University of Texas-Galveston, University of Pittsburgh, and a rural health center, Marshfield Clinic Health System in Wisconsin.
Postpartum Depression
The American Psychiatric Association describes postpartum or peripartum depression as a "serious yet treatable medical illness" that involves feelings of extreme sadness, anxiety and or indifference, and changes in sleep, appetite, and energy. It carries risks for both the mother and child.
Pregnancy and the period following delivery can be particularly vulnerable for women. Mothers frequently experience immense emotional, financial, biological, and social changes during this period.
Some women can be at heightened risk for experiencing mental health problems, specifically anxiety and depression.
Symptoms of this emotional state may include crying without any reason, restlessness, irritability, and anxiety. Such symptoms last for one to two weeks and generally resolve independently, minus the need for any treatment.
Related information about pregnant women taking antidepressants is shown on CBS Mornings' YouTube video below:
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