Progression of depression in the prenatal and postpartum periods.

Studies of birth related emotional disorders, which track a cohort of women prospectively throughout the prenatal and postpartum periods, have rarely been undertaken. We measured depression at six separate intervals in the prenatal and postpartum periods among an experimental cohort (n = 57) and at two separate intervals in a nonpregnant control cohort matched on age. Subjects with high levels of prenatal depression were three times more likely to report a past history of depression and two and one-half times more likely to have high depression levels at six weeks postpartum (indicating risk for a puerperal depression). However, they were only one-third more likely to experience transient postpartum depression. Prenatal depression may be another facet of a more encompassing maladjustment which includes past depressive episodes and increased risk for puerperal depression.