Summer baby blues link

NEW YORK: Certain factors related to pregnancy and delivery may affect a woman’s risk of having postpartum depression, a study suggests.

The study showed that giving birth in the winter or the spring was linked to a lower risk of developing postpartum depression, as was having a baby at full-term. Using anaesthesia during delivery also appeared to lower the risk of postpartum depression.

“We wanted to find out whether there are certain factors influencing the risk of developing postpartum depression that may be avoided to improve women’s health both physically and mentally,” the study’s lead author, Dr Jie Zhou, said in a news release from the American Society of Anaesthesiologists. Zhou is from Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston.

About 10% of women suffer from anxiety or depression after childbirth, the researchers said. Symptoms of postpartum depression included sadness, restlessness, agitation and decreased concentration.

Dr Mitchell Kramer, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Huntington Hospital in Huntington, New York, said women at risk included those who had a history of depression or anxiety, who suffered from the condition after a previous delivery, or who had a family history of mental problems.

Untreated, postpartum depression could interfere with mother-child bonding, the US National Institute of Mental Health said.

Dr Margaret Seide, a psychiatrist at Staten Island University Hospital in New York, said mothers suffering from postpartum depression were more likely to neglect or abuse their babies.

“Excessive anxiety that’s not relieved by visits to their paediatrician, and failure to bond or take joy in their baby, are signs of the condition,” Seide said.

Treatment was available and could include antidepressant medication and psychological counselling.

For the study, Zhou and colleagues reviewed medical records of more than 20 000 women. All had delivered babies from June 2015 until August this year. Just over 800 (4%) of the women experienced postpartum depression.

Mothers of babies born with a higher gestational age had a lower risk of depression. That may be because the baby was more mature.

White women had a lower risk of postpartum depression, which could be related to socio-economic status, Zhou suggested.

The researchers found that being overweight was tied to an increased risk of postpartum depression. These women often had more complications during pregnancy and needed more follow-up, and this could account for their increased risk for postpartum depression.

According to Kramer, having or not having anaesthesia during labour may be an important factor, especially among women already at high risk for postpartum depression.

“It’s not unreasonable to counsel women who are at high risk to minimise the trauma and pain during delivery,” he said.

Kramer said he did not think that the season in which a baby is born was a significant factor in whether the mother would experience postpartum depression. “I don’t think it’s anything that’s so significant that I would counsel patients not to have your baby in the summer or autumn,” he said.

Researchers suggested the lower risk of postpartum depression when babies were delivered in winter and spring may be due to mothers enjoying indoor activities with their babies. – New York Times