Prior eating disorders linked to long-term depression risk for mothers
May 13, 2019
Science Daily/University College London
A history of eating disorders and body image concerns before or during pregnancy are associated with future depressive symptoms among mothers, finds a new UCL-led study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.
"We found that women who have had an eating disorder at any point before childbirth, even if it was years earlier in adolescence, were more likely to experience depressive symptoms during pregnancy and up to 18 years after the birth of their child," said the study's lead author Dr Francesca Solmi (UCL Psychiatry).
"This finding suggests that many people with eating disorders might not fully recover since we know that eating disorders and depression often happen at the same time."
The researchers used data from the 'Children of the 90s' cohort study, including 9,276 women.
Previous studies had suggested that depressive symptoms among mothers with eating disorders might improve after the perinatal period, but those studies didn't have such a long follow-up time to confirm that the increased risk of depressive symptoms does in fact persist for women who have had an eating disorder.
The research team found that women who had ever had anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa experienced more depressive symptoms over an 18-year follow-up than those who had never had an eating disorder.
"Depressive symptoms in mothers have been shown to be associated with a number of negative outcomes for their children, such as emotional and behavioural problems. It is therefore important, to identify and treat eating disorders early, as these could be one potential cause of the depressive symptoms," said Dr Solmi.
"We should also identify pregnant women with an eating disorder, so that they can be provided with mental health support. This could benefit both mother and child in the long run."
Dr Abigail Easter, one of the authors of the paper who has developed training materials to help identify eating disorders in pregnancy, added: "There is a need for more training for practitioners and midwives on how to recognise eating disorders in pregnancy, which could help to reduce the long-term impact of mental ill-health."
Current guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommend that health care professionals use a questionnaire to identify depressive symptoms in pregnant women. The current study supports the value of this, as well as for identifying eating disorders.
"There's a lot of stigma around both depression and eating disorders, so many people might not feel comfortable talking about it or seeking help. Assessment of mental illness in pregnancy, as standard practice, could help health professionals pick up on signs of depression and/or eating disorders at this crucial stage of life," said first author Yu Wei Chua, who began the study at UCL before moving over to the University of Strathclyde.
The study was conducted by researchers at UCL, University of Strathclyde and King's College London, and was funded by Wellcome and the National Institute for Health Research UCLH Biomedical Research Centre.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190513212359.htm
Depressed moms not ‘in sync’ with their children
May 5, 2016
Science Daily/Binghamton University, State University of New York
Mothers with a history of depression are not physiologically "in sync" with their kids, according to a new study. While researchers have known for a while that depression is associated with interpersonal problems with others, this is the first study to examine whether this is also evident physiologically.
"When people are interacting, sometimes you just feel like you're in sync with somebody, and you know the interaction is going really well and you're enjoying the conversation. We're trying to figure out, at the body level, in terms of your physiology, do you see this synchrony in moms and their kids, and then how is that impacted by depression?" said Brandon Gibb, professor of psychology at Binghamton University and director of the Mood Disorders Institute and Center for Affective Science.
Binghamton researchers measured heart rate variability, a physiological measure of social engagement, in children aged 7-11 and their mothers (44 with a history of depression, 50 with no history of depression) while they engaged in positive and negative discussions. In the first discussion, mother-child pairs planned a dream vacation together; in the second discussion, pairs addressed a recent topic of conflict between them (e.g. homework, using the TV or computer, being on time, problems at school, lying, etc.) While moms with no history of depression displayed physiological synchrony (similar increases or decreases in heart rate variability) as their children during negative discussion, depressed moms were not in sync with their children. Furthermore, children and mothers who were more sad during the interaction were more likely to be out of sync with one another. According to researchers, these results provide preliminary evidence that synchrony during interactions is disrupted at the physiological level in families with a history of maternal depression and may be a potential risk factor for the intergenerational transmission of depression.
"We found that mothers who had no history of depression were really matching their children's physiology in the moment," said graduate student and lead author of the study Mary Woody. "We saw most moment-to-moment matching in the conflict discussion, in which they were talking about something negative going on in their life. In this difficult discussion, we're seeing this protective physiological mechanism coming out. Whereas, with mothers with a history of depression and their kids, we're seeing the opposite -- they actually mismatched. As one person is getting more engaged, the other person is pulling away. So they were really missing each other in that moment and walking away from the discussion feeling sad."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160505105019.htm
Increased risk of depression for mothers undergoing fertility treatment
Science Daily/August 18, 2015
University of Copenhagen The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Women giving birth after undergoing fertility treatment face an increased risk of depression compared to women ending up not having a child following fertility treatment, according to new research. According to the researchers, this has key implications for fertility treatment in future.
Danish researchers are among the first worldwide to study the risk of developing a clinical depression for women undergoing fertility treatment. The new study shows that women who give birth after receiving fertility treatment are five times more likely to develop depression compared to women who don't give birth.
"The new results are surprising because we had assumed it was actually quite the opposite. However, our study clearly shows that women who become mothers following fertility treatment have an increased risk of developing depression in the first six weeks after birth compared to women who did not have a child. Our study has not looked at why the depression occurs, but other studies indicate that it could be caused by hormonal changes or mental factors, but we cannot say for sure. We did not find any correlation between the number of fertility treatments and the subsequent risk of depression," says one of the driving forces behind the study, Camilla Sandal Sejbaek, PhD, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.
Important findings for future treatment
The new research is based on data from 41,000 Danish women who have undergone fertility treatment in which an egg is removed from the body and fertilised in a laboratory. The study is based on unique register information from fertility clinics in Denmark.
"Infertility affects one in four to six couples who are trying to conceive, and our research sheds light on a little-known field. By focusing on the link between having a child after undergoing fertility treatment and the risk of depression, our research can give professionals useful tools in the form of advice and how to handle a pregnancy before and after birth. In addition, the findings are important in relation to couples who are thinking about starting fertility treatment. "It can be a tough process, and our findings show there is not a greater risk of depression if the treatment is unsuccessful," says Associate Professor Lone Schmidt, MD, DMSci, PhD from the Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150818120551.htm