Risk of Postpartum Depression Not Associated With Type of Planned, Actual Delivery, Study Says

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 01 Mar 2005 - 21:00 PDT

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Women who undergo an elective caesarean-section delivery have about the same rate of postpartum depression as women who plan vaginal deliveries, according to a study published in the Feb. 25 online version of... BMJ, Reuters reports. The study also found that women who planned vaginal deliveries but had emergency c-sections or assisted vaginal deliveries were no more likely to experience postpartum depression than women who gave birth by spontaneous vaginal delivery (Reaney, Reuters, 2/24). Deirdre Murphy, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Dundee in Scotland, and colleagues assessed 10,934 women, all of whom were recruited for the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children and had a due date between April 1, 1991, and Dec. 31, 1992 (Murphy et al., BMJ, 2/25). Researchers administered surveys to each of the women eight weeks after they gave birth to determine if they could be classified as having postpartum depression (Reuters, 2/24). Women were classified as having postpartum depression if they scored 13 or higher using the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale. Using wide confidence intervals and adjusting for outside variables, the study found that new mothers experienced postpartum depression at the same rates, regardless of their plans for a c-section or vaginal delivery or their actual method of delivery. "There is no reason for women with a history of depression or those at high risk of depression to be managed differently with regard to mode of delivery," the study authors said, concluding, "Furthermore, even if emergency caesarean section or assisted delivery is required, women can be reassured that there is no reason to believe that they are more likely to experience [postpartum] depression" (BMJ, 2/25).

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