Postpartum Depression

Postpartum Depression Prevalent Among Women With Psychiatric Family History

09/08/2022

The risk of women developing postpartum depression is nearly twice as high among mothers with a family history of psychiatric disorders when compared with mothers without a family history, according to a recent study.

The researchers aimed to find a consistent association between family psychiatric history and a diagnosis of postpartum depression to identify the possible risk of a mother developing this form of depression.

A meta-analysis of peer-reviewed cohort and case-control studies (n = 26) was conducted by the researchers. The researchers reviewed data from 100,877 women from 18 countries who developed postpartum depression 12 months after pregnancy.

After analyzing the data, researchers found there was an increased odds ratio (OR) of mothers developing postpartum depression when mothers had a self-reported history of psychiatric disorders (OR, 2.08; 95% CI, 1.67-2.59, I2 = 57.14%), which corresponded to a risk ratio of 1.79 (95% CI, 1.52-2.09). While reporting on the data, the researchers assumed a 15% postpartum depression prevalence in the general population.

Subgroup, sensitivity, and meta-aggression analyses were in line with the researchers’ main findings.

“…This systematic review and meta-analysis highlights mothers with a family history of any psychiatric disorder have an almost doubled risk of developing [postpartum depression] compared with mothers without,” the researchers concluded. “Information on family history of psychiatric disorders is easy to identify through simple self-reported question(s), potentially as part of routine perinatal care, and early identification makes timely and targeted intervention possible to prevent PPD or mitigate the consequences thereof.”

 

—Jessica Ganga

Reference:

Kjeldsen MMZ, Bricca A, Liu X, Frokjaer VG, Madsen KB, Munk-Olsen T. Family history of psychiatric disorders as a risk factor for maternal postpartum depression. JAMA Psychiatry. Published online August 17, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamapyschiatry.2022.2400.