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. 2021 Apr;38(4):390-399.
doi: 10.1002/da.23121. Epub 2020 Dec 7.

Peripartum depression: Does risk versus diagnostic status impact mother-infant bonding and perceived social support?

Megan M Hare  1 , Aimee Kroll-Desrosiers  2   3 , Kristina M Deligiannidis  4   5   6
Affiliations

Peripartum depression: Does risk versus diagnostic status impact mother-infant bonding and perceived social support?

Megan M Hare et al. Depress Anxiety. 2021 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Peripartum depression (PND) impairs mother-infant boding and perceived social support, yet limited research has examined if women at-risk for PND (AR-PND) also experience impairment. We examined if pregnant women AR-PND, women with PND, and healthy comparison women (HCW) differed in their mother-infant bonding and social support. As PND is highly comorbid with anxiety, we also examined if peripartum anxiety impacted postpartum diagnosis of PND.

Methods: A total of 144 pregnant women AR-PND or euthymic were assessed twice antepartum and twice postpartum. We utilized regression models to examine the impact of PND risk group status and diagnostic status on mother-infant bonding and perceived social support postpartum. We conducted a sensitivity analysis using a generalized estimating equations model to determine if anxiety (Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, HAM-A) across all four time points was associated with the postpartum diagnosis of PND.

Results: Women AR-PND experienced significantly worse mother-infant bonding compared to HCW (p = .03). Women diagnosed with PND experienced significantly worse mother-infant bonding and social support compared to HCW (p = .001, p = .002, respectively) and to those who were at-risk for but did not develop PND (p = .02, p = .008, respectively). HAM-A severity at each visit was associated with PND diagnosis status, where each increase in HAM-A was associated with 15% increased odds of being diagnosed with PND postpartum.

Conclusions: Both women AR-PND and those with PND experience worse mother-infant bonding. Peripartum anxiety should also be assessed as it represents a marker for later PND.

Keywords: anxiety; depression; mother-infant relationship; peripartum; postpartum; social support.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1:
FIGURE 1:. Participant study completion flow diagram
Note. PND: peripartum depression; AR-PPD−: started study AR-PND and did not develop a diagnosis of depression; AR-PND+: started study AR-PND and did develop a diagnosis of depression
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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