Symptoms associated with the DSM IV diagnosis of depression in pregnancy and post partum

Abstract

Pregnancy and the postpartum may affect symptoms of depression. However it has not yet been tested how the symptoms used for the DSM IV diagnosis of depression discriminate depressed from non depressed women perinatally. A modified version of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM IV (SCID interview) was used that allowed assessment of all associated DSM IV symptoms of depression with depressed and non depressed women in pregnancy and the postpartum period. Loss of appetite was not associated with depression either ante or postnatally. The antenatal symptom pattern was different from the postnatal. The sensitivity of the symptoms ranged from 0.7% to 51.6%, and specificity from 61.3% to 99.1%. The best discriminating symptoms were motor retardation/agitation and concentration antenatally, and motor retardation/agitation, concentration and fatigue postnatally. Depression in pregnancy and postpartum depression show significantly different symptom profiles. Appetite is not suitable for the diagnosis of depression in the perinatal period.

Is postpartum depression a homogenous disorder: time of onset, severity, symptoms and hopelessness in relation to the course of depression

“…An additional new finding is that MDE symptoms vary according to previous episodes of depression. According to previous studies, psychomotor symptoms, decreased energy, changes in appetite, sleep disturbances, poor concentration, and mild suicidal ideation are typical of PPD [6,30,31,36]. In this study, symptoms such as depressed mood, loss of interest/pleasure, psychomotor agitation/retardation, and decreased energy were common with all kinds of histories of depression.…”

“…The symptom profile was wide, as shown by numerous studies [6,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. Increased or decreased appetite, sleep disturbances, and decreased energy, each of which may be difficult to differentiate from healthy women because of postpartum status, other medical reasons and child care stress were also different [6][7][8]. Many of the symptoms are similar to those of generalised anxiety disorders, panic disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and personality disorders, and co-morbidity may be high between these disorders and PPD [10,[13][14][15][16][17].…”

“…All nine SCID symptoms and all SCL-90 symptoms were different between the mothers suffering from major depression and the non-depressed postpartum mothers. The symptom profile was wide, as shown by numerous studies [6,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. Increased or decreased appetite, sleep disturbances, and decreased energy, each of which may be difficult to differentiate from healthy women because of postpartum status, other medical reasons and child care stress were also different [6][7][8].…”

Associated symptoms of depression: patterns of change during pregnancy

“…Pregnancy, birth and lactation are marked by large changes in hormone levels, including increasing exposure to psychoactive hormones such as oestrogen, progesterone and cortisol during pregnancy (O'Leary et al, 1991;Yonkers et al, 2009) and sudden withdrawal on parturition (Kammerer et al, 2009). There is considerable interest in examining these and other periods of marked hormonal change (e.g.…”

Measuring spatial proximity in mother–infant interaction: A kinematic approach for an examination of the effects of maternal postpartum depression

“…Depressed patients are found to differ from normal groups with regard to quantified gross motor activity level, movements of the limbs, trunk and head, speech and motor reaction time (Sobin & Sackheim, 1997). In a study of depressive symptoms in pregnancy and postpartum, psychomotor retardation/agitation was found to be among the best discriminating symptoms (Kammerer et al, 2009).…”