Physical health after childbirth and maternal depression in the first 12 months post partum: Results of an Australian nulliparous pregnancy cohort study

Assessing physical symptoms during the postpartum period: reliability and validity of the primary health questionnaire somatic symptom subscale (PHQ-15)

“…Less research has been done with women during pregnancy and postpartum but the findings are consistent with the broader literature, showing physical symptoms can be associated with psychological problems such as depression, anxiety or somatic disorders [3,4]. For example, a longitudinal study of women in pregnancy found that physical symptoms in the second trimester of pregnancy predicted symptoms of depression in the last trimester [7].…”

“…Pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period involve huge physiological changes and women often experience normal and abnormal physical symptoms during this time [1][2][3][4] with over 90% of women reporting physical health problems after birth [2,5].…”

“…The PHQ-15 has a number of advantages in that it is widely used [11][12][13], is considered reliable and valid for general [14,15] and clinical populations [11,[16][17][18], has been translated into several languages [12-15, 17, 18], and has been widely implemented in healthcare. It also includes items that assess the severity of the most common symptoms in postpartum women including tiredness and musculoskeletal problems [3,5], as well as symptoms associated with poor self-rated health such as headache, stomach pain, nausea and musculoskeletal problems [19].…”

Relationships between perineal pain and postpartum depressive symptoms: A prospective cohort study

“…In previous studies, women suffering from postpartum pain reported a poor quality of life (Baghirzada et al, 2013), and pain was associated with depressive symptoms during the postpartum period (Eisenach et al, 2013;Watkins et al, 2011;Woolhouse et al, 2014).…”

Depressive symptoms, pain, and sexual dysfunction over the first year following vaginal or cesarean delivery: A prospective longitudinal study

“…Pain after delivery, including headache, perineal pain, abdominal pain, back pain, and nipple pain (Cheng and Li, 2008;Woolhouse et al, 2014), is one of the most prevalent postpartum symptoms (Nikpour et al, 2013;Woolhouse et al, 2014) and is negatively associated with the quality of life after delivery (Baghirzada et al, 2013). A history of pain is associated with postpartum depression (Eisenach et al, 2008;Watkins et al, 2011).…”