postpartum anxiety

IMPORTANCE: Severe maternal morbidity (SMM) can have long-term health consequences for the affected mother. The association between SMM and future maternal mental health conditions has not been well studied. OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between SMM in the first recorded birth and the risk of hospitalization or emergency department (ED) visits for a mental health condition over a 13-year period. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This population-based retrospective cohort study used data from postpartum individuals aged 18 to 55 years with a first hospital delivery between 2008 and 2021 in 11 provinces and territories in Canada, except Québec...

The lateral septum (LS) is involved in controlling anxiety, aggression, feeding, and other motivated behaviors. Lesion studies have also implicated the LS in various forms of caring behaviors. Recently, novel experimental tools have provided a more detailed insight into the function of the LS, including the specific role of distinct cell types and their neuronal connections in behavioral regulations, in which the LS participates. This article discusses the regulation of different types of maternal behavioral alterations using the distributions of established maternal hormones such as prolactin, estrogens, and the neuropeptide oxytocin...

OBJECTIVE: There is a lack of longitudinal population-based research comparing women's experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from the Mothers' and Young People's Study, the prevalence of physical and emotional IPV in the first year of the pandemic is compared with earlier waves of data. DESIGN: A prospective pregnancy cohort of first-time mothers in Melbourne, Australia was followed up over the first decade of motherhood, with a quick response study conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic...

INTRODUCTION: Positive maternal mental health is associated with improved outcomes for infants, and yet the consideration of maternal mental health is often neglected in breastfeeding interventions. Breastfeeding interventions typically focus on breastfeeding promotion, and do not always include supports for the mother. This may result in isolated perceived pressure to breastfeed, the mental health impacts of which are not well understood. METHODS: This mixed-methods, longitudinal study examined whether perceived pressure to breastfeed was associated with depression, suicide ideation, anxiety, birth trauma and stress concurrently and 4 weeks later for postpartum mothers...

IMPORTANCE: Over 30% of pregnant people have at least one chronic medical condition, and nearly 20% develop gestational diabetes or pregnancy-related hypertension, increasing the risk of future chronic disease. While these individuals are often monitored closely during pregnancy, they face significant barriers when transitioning to primary care following delivery, due in part to a lack of health care support for this transition. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of an intervention designed to improve postpartum primary care engagement by reducing patient administrative burden and information gaps...

BACKGROUND: The emotional bond that a mother senses to her infant is essential to their social, emotional, and cognitive development. Understanding the level of mother-infant bonding plays an imperative role in the excellence of care. However, in Lebanon, there is a paucity of information about mother-infant bonding in the postpartum period. Given that Lebanese pregnant women constitute an important part of the population to look at, the objectives of the study were to (1) validate the Arabic version of the mother-infant bonding scale and (2) the relation between mother-infant bond and postpartum depression/anxiety; (3) the moderating effect of child abuse in the association between mother-infant bond and postpartum depression/anxiety...

INTRODUCTION: The period from pregnancy to postpartum is a vulnerable time with an increased risk of mental illness. The COVID-19 pandemic led to restrictions in peripartum care, such as infection control measures, or restrictions regarding accompanying persons. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Effects of COVID-19-related restrictions on the psyche and well-being during the peripartum period in Austria were retrospectively assessed using a partially standardized online questionnaire...

AIM/BACKGROUND: Both mental maternal health and breastfeeding difficulties impact maternal and infant health. The present study analyses the association between psychosocial and breastfeeding variables and maternal mental health. DESIGN/METHODS: The participants were 107 first-time mothers from Chile. Sociodemographic variables and breastfeeding difficulties were assessed at 6 weeks postpartum. Depression and anxiety symptoms, parental self-efficacy, and perceived social support were measured using validated, self-report questionnaires at 6 weeks and 5 months postpartum...

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of data on the epidemiology of IBS in pregnant and postpartum patients in the United States. METHODS: A retrospective claims analysis was conducted in a cohort of 1,618,379 patients with ≥1 delivery hospitalization between 2013-2019 utilizing ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes after merging inpatient and outpatient claims. Obstetric, psychological, and other medical comorbidities were also examined. KEY RESULTS: The prevalence of IBS in our cohort was 1...

OBJECTIVE: Being a mother of a young child may be protective against alcohol misuse for some, but not all, women. This is the first paper to identify the mental health and psychosocial correlates of alcohol misuse among postpartum mothers. METHODS: Mothers with a child under 12-months ( n =319) were recruited via social media to complete a cross-sectional online survey. Two hierarchical logistic regressions examined unique factors associated with heavy episodic drinking and hazardous alcohol use, including sociodemographic, mental ill-health, and psychosocial factors...

Perinatal reductions in gray matter volume have been observed in human mothers transitioning to parenthood, with preliminary evidence for similar changes in fathers. These reductions have been theorized to support adaptation to parenting, but greater investigation is needed. We scanned 38 first-time fathers during their partner's pregnancy and again after 6 months postpartum, and collected self-report data prenatally and 3, 6, and 12 months postpartum. Significant gray matter volume reductions were observed across the entire cortex but not the subcortex...

Research in rodents has shown that exposure to excessive early life audiovisual stimulation leads to altered anxiety-like behaviors and cognitive deficits. Since this period of stimulation typically begins prior to weaning, newborn rodents receive sensory overstimulation (SOS) as a litter within their home cage while the dam is present. However, the effects of SOS during the postpartum period remain unexplored. To this end, we adapted an SOS paradigm for use in rats and exposed rat dams and their litters from postpartum days (PD) 10-23...

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) profoundly impact maternal and infant health, affecting women worldwide during pregnancy and postpartum. This review synthesizes current research on the neurobiological effects of PMADs, particularly their influence on brain structure, function, and corresponding cognitive, behavioral, and mental health outcomes in mothers. A literature search across PubMed, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar yielded studies utilizing neuroimaging (MRI, fMRI) and cognitive assessments to explore brain changes in PMADs...

Maternal responsiveness, a mother's ability to consistently identify infant cues and then act on them, is critical for healthy child development. A woman's social support and spousal relationship may affect responsiveness to an infant, especially among mothers with anxiety. We assessed how social support and spousal relationship quality is associated with responsiveness among anxious mothers, and if postpartum depression (PPD) moderated these associations. Cross-sectional data were collected from 2019 to 2022 in a public hospital in Pakistan from 701 women at six-weeks postpartum...

BACKGROUND: Pregnant and postpartum women's experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the emotional and psychosocial impact of COVID-19 on perinatal health, has been well-documented across high-income countries. Increased anxiety and fear, isolation, as well as a disrupted pregnancy and postnatal period are widely described in many studies. The aim of this study was to explore, describe and synthesise studies that addressed the experiences of pregnant and postpartum women in high-income countries during the first two years of the pandemic...

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs), perinatal substance use disorders (PSUDs), and intimate partner violence (IPV) are leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States. Screening and referral for PMADs, PSUDs and IPV is recommended, however, racial disparities are prominent: Black pregnant and postpartum people (PPP) are less likely to be screened and attend treatment compared to White PPP. We conducted qualitative interviews to better understand the experience of Black PPP who used a text/phone-based screening and referral program for PMADs/PSUDs and IPV-Listening to Women and Pregnant and Postpartum People (LTWP)...

This article explores the feminist social critique in the 'big heroine' drama, a newly emerged genre of television that focuses on empowering yet dramatic stories of urban women in contemporary China. The article theorises the genre as a site of ongoing contestations to inform and critique women's maternal reality in neoliberal, pronatalist China. The big heroine genre is situated in the postsocialist structure of feeling defined by alienation and precarity, responding to China's need to stabilise the emerging population crisis and labour shortage...

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Postpartum depression (PPD) is a severe mental disorder that affects approximately 10---20% of women after childbirth. The precise mechanism underlying PPD pathogenesis remains elusive, thus limiting the development of therapeutics. Gut microbiota dysbiosis is considered to contribute to major depressive disorder. However, the associations between gut microbiota and PPD remain unanswered. Here, we established a mouse PPD model by sudden ovarian steroid withdrawal after hormone-simulated pseudopregnancy-human (HSP-H) in ovariectomy (OVX) mouse...

INTRODUCTION: Imprinted genes are expressed from one parental allele as a consequence of epigenetic processes initiated in the germline. Consequently, their ability to influence phenotype depends on their parent-of-origin. Recent research suggests that the sex of the individual expressing the imprinted gene is also important. We have previously reported that genetically wildtype (WT) dams carrying and caring for pups mutant for PEG3 exhibit anxiety-like behaviours and their mutant pups show a reduction in ultrasonic vocalisation when separated from their mothers...