Prenatal Depression News and Research

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Study reveals how meal skipping during teen pregnancy connects to mental health

A cross-sectional study of pregnant adolescents found that skipping meals, screen distraction during eating, and low dairy intake were associated with higher depressive symptom prevalence. Overall dietary diversity showed no significant relationship, and causality could not be established.

23 Feb 2026

Sensory sensitivity and partner support shape perinatal depression trajectories

Persistent sadness, fatigue, changes in sleep and appetite, or loss of interest are common symptoms in mothers suffering from perinatal depression.

18 Jun 2025

Routine psychological screening can improve maternal cardiovascular health

Integrating routine psychological health screening and treatment during and after pregnancy may reduce the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes and improve maternal cardiovascular health, according to a new scientific statement published today in a Go Red for Women spotlight issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

25 Feb 2025

Maternal stress and depression alter infant DNA, with potential lifelong impact

Maternal stress and depression during pregnancy and postpartum are linked to DNA methylation changes in infants, potentially affecting their development and long-term health.

23 Oct 2024

Reduction of prenatal depression associated with higher full-term birth rates

The effect of lowering prenatal mother depression on gestational duration.

25 Apr 2024

Esketamine after childbirth cuts risk of postnatal depression by three-quarters

Low-dose esketamine administered post-labor significantly reduced depressive symptoms in women with prenatal depression within 42 days, despite an increase in short-lived neuropsychiatric side effects.

14 Apr 2024

Low dose esketamine injection after childbirth reduces postpartum depression

A single low dose injection of esketamine given immediately after childbirth reduces major depressive episodes in individuals with depressive symptoms during pregnancy (prenatal depression), finds a clinical trial published by The BMJ today.

12 Apr 2024

Could Machine Learning models serve to predict depression in early pregnancy in racial/ethnic minority women?

Researchers built and assessed machine learning models to predict depression in pregnant women using electronic medical record data.

20 Jul 2023

COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated childbirth fear among pregnant people

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated fear of childbirth among pregnant people in the U.S., according to a new Dartmouth study.

13 May 2023

COVID-19 diagnosis among pregnant and postpartum individuals showed distinct patterns by rurality of residence and select pregnancy conditions

Researchers estimated the trends and prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 among postpartum and pregnant individuals.

26 Apr 2023

Prenatal depression may be related to postpartum cardiovascular disease diagnosis

Individuals who were diagnosed with depression during pregnancy were more likely to be diagnosed with cardiovascular disease within two years after giving birth than individuals without depression, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

19 Apr 2023

Prenatal intervention benefits mothers' mental health up to eight years later

A low-cost, prenatal intervention benefits mothers' mental health up to eight years later, a new UC San Francisco study finds.

30 Nov 2022

NIH awards $2.1 million grant to UMass Amherst epidemiologist

A University of Massachusetts Amherst epidemiologist has been awarded a five-year, $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue research that aims to understand how physical and mental health during pregnancy can help predict cardiovascular and mental health disorders in middle age.

2 Nov 2022

Autistic people are more vulnerable to mental health difficulties during pregnancy

Autistic people are more vulnerable to depression and anxiety during pregnancy, according to new research from the University of Cambridge.

26 Oct 2022

Postpartum women's experience of social restrictions during COVID-19

A new study published on the medRxiv* preprint server has focused on the effect of various social restrictions or lack of social support on women who delivered and raised babies during the pandemic.

27 Oct 2021

Partners can directly influence pregnant woman's likelihood of drinking alcohol, study finds

A new study by a team of University of Rochester psychologists and other researchers in the Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders finds that partners of mothers-to-be can directly influence a pregnant woman's likelihood of drinking alcohol and feeling depressed, which affects their babies' development.

2 Jun 2021

Prenatal depression influences child's behavior by altering brain connectivity

Altered brain connectivity may be one way prenatal depression influences child behavior, according to new research in JNeurosci.

6 Aug 2020

Cannabis use more prevalent among pregnant women with depression

Cannabis use is much more common among pregnant women with depression and pregnant women with depression are more than 3 times more likely to use cannabis than those without depression, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

3 Mar 2020

Research looks at prenatal cannabis use

More and more, pregnant women today are using cannabis, which is mostly for relieving stress and coping with mood changes. However, the risk associated with this for pregnant women who have mental ill-health or trauma is mostly unexplored.

19 Feb 2020

Study finds link between infant sleep duration and mother's level of education, prenatal depression

A new study analyzing data from Canadian parents has found that babies sleep less at three months of age if their mothers do not have a university degree, experienced depression during pregnancy or had an emergency cesarean-section delivery.

28 Feb 2019