2023-06-10 14:00:58
Postpartum depression affects 10-15% of young mothers, with symptoms including an inability to feel happy, mood swings, profound fatigue and loss of appetite. Beyond its symptoms for the mother, when left untreated, postpartum depression can affect infant development. By identifying a new early predictive marker of the risk of postpartum depression, this research also suggests better monitoring and information on the mental health of women using contraception, of childbearing age.
Monitoring women’s mental health when initiating hormonal contraception
The study, carried out among 200,000 primiparous women identified the most serious cases of depression, having justified drug treatments during the initiation of contraception, during pregnancy and then postpartum. The analysis suggests that women who develop a depressive episode soon after starting hormonal contraception are at greater risk of developing postpartum depression than women with a history of depression unrelated to the initiation of pregnancy. hormonal birth control.
Lead author Dr Søren Vinther Larsen of the University of Copenhagen and neurobiology researcher at Rigshospitalet explains that some women are thus more sensitive to hormonal changes caused by hormonal contraception as well as pregnancy and childbirth.
What explanation? The explanation lies in the hormonal sensitivity of women: “When young women start taking hormonal contraceptives, their bodies and brains are exposed to synthetic sex hormones and the body’s production of sex hormones is suppressed. Some women are more sensitive to these changes than others and in some of them it can lead to a depressive episode. Women undergo great hormonal changes in relation to pregnancy and childbirth, and these changes are already suspected to contribute to the development of postpartum depression”.
This association between contraception, depressive episodes and then postpartum depression appears to be stronger than between a history of pressure and postpartum depression. This predictive sign confirms that some women of childbearing age are more sensitive to hormonal changes than others.
This new indicator should be taken into account in longer-term monitoring of women’s health and could help midwives and doctors identify women at higher risk of developing postpartum depression.
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