Weekly Roundup for MAY 16, 2020: Recent Publications in Women’s Mental Health

By | May 18, 2020

The association between labor epidural analgesia and postpartum depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Almeida M, Kosman KA, Kendall MC, De Oliveira GS.  BMC Womens Health. 2020 May 11;20(1):99.   Free Article

Of the 148 studies available, 9 studies with 4442 patients were included in the analysis. The use of labor analgesia on positive depression screen compared to control revealed no significant effect, OR (95% CI) of 1.02 (0.62 to 1.66, P?=?0.94).  Based on current literature, the use of epidural analgesia for pain relief during labor doesn’t appear to affect the likelihood of postpartum depression. 


Maternal depressive symptoms during and after pregnancy are associated with poorer sleep quantity and quality and sleep disorders in 3.5-year-old offspring.

Toffol E, Lahti-Pulkkinen M, Lahti J, Lipsanen J, Heinonen K, Pesonen AK, Hämäläinen E, Kajantie E, Laivuori H, Villa PM, Räikkönen K.  Sleep Med. 2019 Apr;56:201-210. 

Children of mothers with clinically significant symptomatology throughout pregnancy had shorter mother-rated sleep duration, longer sleep latency, higher odds for waking up two or more times during the night and for total and several specific sleep disorders. 


Is There an Association Between Diet, Physical Activity and Depressive Symptoms in the Perinatal Period? An Analysis of the UPBEAT Cohort of Obese Pregnant Women.

  Wilson CA, Seed P, Flynn A, Howard LM, Molyneaux E, Sigurdardottir J, Poston L.  Matern Child Health J. 2020 Apr 30. 

Increased glycaemic load was associated with small increases in levels of depressive symptoms across the perinatal period. There was no evidence for an association between reduced physical activity and increased saturated fat intake and increased levels of depressive symptoms.

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Machine Learning Models for the Prediction of Postpartum Depression: Application and Comparison Based on a Cohort Study.

Zhang W, Liu H, Silenzio VMB, Qiu P, Gong W.  JMIR Med Inform. 2020 Apr 30;8(4):e15516. Free Article

The study compared four different machine learning models using data during pregnancy to predict PPD and explored which factors in the model were the most important for the prediction of PPD.


The experiences of mothers with preterm infants within the first-year post discharge from NICU: social support, attachment and level of depressive symptoms.

Leahy-Warren P, Coleman C, Bradley R, Mulcahy H.  BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2020 Apr 29;20(1):260. Free Article

In women with premature infants admitted to the NICU, the prevalence of postpartum depression was 37.9% (95% CI: 29.8 to 46.4%). History of depression, older age (30-35), and lower levels of social supports were associated with more severe depressive symptoms.  


Altered Spontaneous Neural Activity in Peripartum Depression: A Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.

Che K, Mao N, Li Y, Liu M, Ma H, Bai W, Xu X, Dong J, Li Y, Shi Y, Xie H. Front Psychol. 2020 Apr 8;11:656. Free Article

In women with postpartum depression, spontaneous neural activity was significantly increased mainly in the left middle frontal gyrus, left precuneus, left inferior parietal lobule, and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and decreased mainly in the bilateral precentral gyrus and right inferior occipital gyrus compared to non-depressed healthy controls.

MGH Center for Women's Mental Health