Educating clinicians about how to identify and treat serious illness in expectant mothers is crucial to minimizing complications, researchers say
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Some pregnant women are more likely to be depressed than others.
A new U-M study published in this month’s American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, finds that factors such as stress, mental health history, social support, and whether a pregnancy was intended, contribute to a woman being more at risk of experiencing depression than others.
“Depression has been associated with adverse outcomes for both mom and baby, including pre-term delivery, pre-eclampsia, sleep disturbances for both mom and baby, and maternal-infant attachment effects, in addition to its impact on the mother’s daily quality of life,” says Christie A. Lancaster, M.D., M.S., a U-M clinical lecturer in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and lead author in the study.
Depression, experienced by as many as 12.7 percent of pregnant women, is a serious complication that, if identified, can be treated during pregnancy.
Tags: depression, perinatal, perinatal depression, postpartum, postpartum depression, ppd, pregnancy
