Perinatal depression increases risk of cardiovascular disease in women

In particular, the strongest associations were with the risk of high blood pressure, coronary heart disease and heart failure.

The study was carried out by Emma Bran and Dong a Lu from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, a group that had already found that perinatal depression It is associated with an increased risk of a number of other health problems, such as premenstrual disorders, autoimmune disorders and suicidal behavior, as well as premature death.

Perinatal depression, which is depression during pregnancy or after childbirth, is estimated to affect one in five women giving birth worldwide.

The study was based on Swedish Medical Birth Registerwhich includes all births in the country.

The researchers compared 55,539 Swedish women who were diagnosed with perinatal depression between 2001 and 2014 with another group of 545,567 women who also gave birth during that time but were not diagnosed with perinatal depression.

All of them were followed until 2020 to assess whether they developed any cardiovascular disease.

Among women with perinatal depression, 6.4% developed cardiovascular disease compared with 3.7% of women without perinatal depression. This is equivalent to a 36% increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

The study also found that the risk of high blood pressure was about 50% higher, coronary heart disease was 37% higher, and heart failure was 36% higher.

The results, Bran explains, could help identify people at increased risk of heart disease so steps can be taken to reduce that risk. “We know that perinatal depression is preventable and treatable.and for many people, this is the first episode of depression they experience.

Reasons to be determined

Experts admit that it is still unknown exactly how and in what ways perinatal depression leads to cardiovascular disease.

The researchers also compared women with perinatal depression to their sisters and found that they had a 20% increased risk of heart disease.

“The slightly smaller difference in risk between sisters suggests that genetic or familial factors may be partly involved,” he says, acknowledging that other factors may also be involved, as is the case with the relationship between other forms of depression and cardiovascular disease .

Although signs of mood disorders after childbirth have been observed since the time of Hippocrates, it was only last year, in 2023, that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first oral treatment for postpartum depression, making it much more accessible. millions of women suffering from this disease. The future will show whether appropriate treatment for perinatal depression reduces the increased risk. cardiovascular diseases are observed.