New findings from Kaiser Permanente describe advances in depression.(Clinical report)

"The impact of prenatal depression on pregnancy outcomes is largely unknown. We conducted a population-based prospective cohort study among pregnant women of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program to examine the impact of prenatal depression on the risk of preterm delivery," investigators in the United States report (see also Depression).

"We interviewed pregnant women in their early pregnancy. Women's depressive symptoms were ascertained using the standard Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD). The presence of significant prenatal depressive symptoms and severe depressive symptoms was determined by CESD scores >= 16 and >= 22, respectively. Among the 791 participants who answered CESD questions and delivered a live birth, after controlling for potential confounders using the Cox proportional hazard regression, women with CESD scores >= 16 had almost twice the risk of preterm delivery compared with women without depressive symptoms: adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 1.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0-3.7. The risk of preterm delivery increased with increasing severity of depression: aHR = 1.6 (CI 0.7-3.6) for CESD 16-21 and aHR = 2.2 (CI 1.1-4.7) for CESD >= 22. The risk of preterm delivery associated with prenatal depression appears to be exacerbated by low educational level, a history of fertility problems and the presence of obesity and stressful events. The observed associations were not ...