STUDY | Depression could be factor in preterm births
BY RITA RUBIN, October 27, 2008

Depression in pregnant women could help explain the growing problem of preterm delivery.


While post-partum depression ''has long been recognized as a serious public health problem,'' Kaiser Permanente researchers write in the journal Human Reproduction, "depression during pregnancy has not been well-studied.'' It's not clear how common depression is in pregnant women and how it affects their babies, the authors write.

''Depression during pregnancy is really under-diagnosed, both by women and by obstetricians,'' lead author De-Kun Li, a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland, said in an interview.

Li and his co-authors screened women for depression about 10 weeks into their pregnancies. More than 40 percent reported having significant depressive symptoms, and half of those women reported having severe depressive symptoms.

A total of 791 women completed the screening and delivered a live baby. Women who, after being screened, went on to miscarry -- defined as a pregnancy loss before 20 weeks' gestation -- were excluded from the analysis.

Overall, after accounting for other factors that might play a role, women with significant depressive symptoms were nearly twice as likely to deliver a baby preterm -- or before 37 complete weeks' gestation -- than those without significant depressive symptoms.

The authors speculate that depression during pregnancy might interfere with placental hormones that help maintain a healthy pregnancy and ensure that labor doesn't start too early. In addition, they write, their study suggests that low education level and stressful events could exacerbate the effect of depressive symptoms on the risk of preterm delivery.

Gannett News Service