Diabetes Linked to Pregnancy-Related Depression
in Low-Income Women

Among low-income pregnant women, those with diabetes have almost twice the odds of having perinatal depression and are also more likely to have postpartum depression, researchers report. In a retrospective cohort study of pregnant Medicaid patients, 15.2% of women with prepregnancy or gestational diabetes, vs 8.5% of women without diabetes, were depressed in the perinatal period, which encompassed the last 6 months of pregnancy to 1 year after delivery. Among women who did not have prenatal depression, 9.6% of women with diabetes vs 5.9% of women without diabetes developed postpartum depression.

Studies have established a link between diabetes and depression in the general population, but to date, no research has characterized the relationship between these 2 illnesses among pregnant women and new mothers. "Our findings show a relationship between 2 illnesses — diabetes and depression — that are common during pregnancy and the postpartum period," lead author Katy Backes Kozhimannil, from Harvard Medical School, in Boston, Massachusetts, told Medscape Psychiatry. "It is highly important to note that postpartum depression is treatable, but it is underdiagnosed," she said. "Healthcare providers, clinicians, and facilities that serve low-income and Medicaid populations may want to pay particular attention to managing the mental healthcare concerns of women with diabetes during pregnancy and the postpartum period."

-Adapted from: “Diabetes Linked to Pregnancy-Related Depression in Low-Income Women”, Marlene Busko, Medscape Medical News, February 25, 2009 www.medscape.com/viewarticle/588718retrieved 3/4/09. Original article appeared in JAMA. 2007;301:842-847.

3/09