Mental health of parents important during the perinatal period

Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Published On 2022-06-28 04:30 GMT | Update On 2022-06-28 11:20 GMT

Perinatal mood disorders such as postnatal depression and perinatal anxiety, may affect both mothers and fathers simultaneously.as per a new systematic review and meta-analysis.

Previous studies show that a history of mood disorders increase the possibility of developing a common mental disorder in parents.

Around 3 in 100 couples were found to both suffer from late postnatal depression, which occurs three to 12 months after a child is born.Meanwhile, in approximately 2 in 100 couples, parents experienced antenatal depression - before the baby was born - (1.72%), and early postnatal depression - up to 12 weeks after the birth - (2.37%).

The study, published in JAMA Network Open, analysed 23 studies with data from close to 30000 couples who had low-risk pregnancies. The findings showed that mothers who experienced psychosocial factors, such as early life stressors, limited social support and exposure to intimate partner violence were more at risk of developing a perinatal mood disorder.

While for fathers, the main factors associated with an increased risk of perinatal mood disorder were lower levels of education, unemployment, low social support and marital distress.Parental perinatal mood disorders are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, impaired bonding with the newborn, and behavioural problems in their children. Co-occurrence of mood disorders in parents may amplify these negative outcomes.

The authors hence concluded that perinatal depression can follow a protracted course. most men and women who have depressive symptoms at 4 and 8 weeks post-partum continue to have symptoms at 6 months post-partum, and some develop symptoms in the later postnatal period.

Reference: Smythe KL, Petersen I, Schartau P. Prevalence of Perinatal Depression and Anxiety in Both Parents: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(6):e2218969. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.18969

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Article Source : JAMA Network

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Dr. Nandita Mohan

Dr. Nandita Mohan is a practicing pediatric dentist with more than 5 years of clinical work experience. Along with this, she is equally interested in keeping herself up to date about the latest developments in the field of medicine and dentistry which is the driving force for her to be in association with Medical Dialogues. She also has her name attached with many publications; both national and international. She has pursued her BDS from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore and later went to enter her dream specialty (MDS) in the Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry from Pt. B.D. Sharma University of Health Sciences. Through all the years of experience, her core interest in learning something new has never stopped. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

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Mental health of parents important during the perinatal period

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