PostPartum Depression Often Revealed in Blood Test

Many a new mother suffers the ravages of postpartum depression just when her new baby demands the most attention. Until recently, there’s been little physical evidence to determine which mothers are most at risk of developing this debilitating condition but doctors at the University of California, Irvine, have just reported their finding that a simple blood test, taken during pregnancy, does indeed provide clinical evidence of impending depression and it does so in time to begin intervention strategies before symptoms begin.

Assistant psychology professor Ilona S. Yim led a research team through a study of placental corticotropin-releasing hormone (pCRH) and any potential link with postpartum pregnancy. Their success rate in identifying new mothers who would later develop postpartum depression was 75%.

Yim’s team worked with 100 women at various stages of pregnancy. They tested the study participants’ blood for pCRH and each woman was assessed for symptoms of depression. The psychological evaluations were conducted during pregnancy and again about eight weeks after delivery, a time when postpartum depression typically begins.

Sixteen of the study participants did develop postpartum depression and each one had high levels of pCRH in her bloodstream at the 25th week of pregnancy. Using blood testing for pCRH alone revealed a 75% accuracy rate but adding the psychological evaluations to the blood testing proved even more accurate.

About 13% of all new mothers develop postpartum depression. The condition makes it difficult for the woman to cope with everyday issues but her new baby and all other family members suffer as well. Children can develop problems with cognition, behavior, and social issues when a parent is depressed.

A lingering complication of postpartum depression is that the disorder is likely to return in the future. When mothers are at particular risk, intervention can begin before symptoms start appearing and, in many cases, they can ward off the condition before it develops.

Yim suggests stress reduction measures, such as yoga, for mothers at risk. She says women who already have a history of depression are at greater risk of postpartum depression, as are women who’ve experienced stressful events in life, have a weak social support system, and who suffer from low self-esteem. When a woman experiences anxiety, depression, or stress during pregnancy, her risk of postpartum depression increases.

The February issue of the journal, ‘Archives of General Psychiatry,’ carries Yim’s full report.