A new study shows just how important it is for depressed pregnant women to get help — both for themselves and their babies.
A few key findings:
a. Just six days after birth, newborns of depressed mothers showed worse neurobehavioral functioning.
b. At 1 years old, infants of depressed mothers had higher cortisol responses to stress.
Further, women with major depression had a shorter length of gestation.
“Our findings that compared with women without depression in pregnancy, women with depression in pregnancy have increased stress-related biology, newborns with less optimal neurobehavioral function, and infants with a greater biological response to stress, confirmed our hypotheses,” Osborne told MedPage Today. “Our hypotheses were based on bringing together evidence from a combination of previous, but perhaps less clinically relevant, research.”
But here’s some good news.
A new IV-infusion called Brexanolone is expected to hit the market in 2019, and trials showed a 70% remission rate for pregnant women with major depression.
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