Approximately 15 percent of women suffer from postpartum depression, which manifests in feelings of anxiety, sadness, irritability and depressive symptoms. The mother who suffers from it suffers a lot from not feeling happy about her new situation and not being able to be one hundred percent for her baby.
One of the keys is its early detection, knowing how to recognize it to seek help as soon as possible. Therefore, it is good news to know that a blood test in pregnancy could detect postpartum depression.
Researchers at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, found that a simple sample of the pregnant woman's blood, taken in any trimester, could reveal valuable information about two genes (known as TTC9B and HP1BP3) that act in the hippocampus, area of the brain that governs moods, and appear to be reactive to estrogen.
In this way, 52 pregnant women could be detected with 85% success If the woman will develop depression once the baby is born. The sample is small, but the result is quite significant, so although more studies would be necessary, they seem to be on track.
Women with a depressive history are even more likely to suffer postpartum depression. Between 30 and 35% of women previously diagnosed with mood disorders, suffer again as mothers.
Although the blood test would be a simple way to prevent it, and thus prevent the symptoms from affecting both the recent mother and the baby, of course there is also a set of factors related to postpartum depression, such as the particular situation of each woman, whether or not you have a containment network and other causes of stress that may affect you.
Its cause is not only genetic, and it is in all those aspects that the woman must be supported and accompanied from pregnancy to minimize any risk of postpartum depression.
