A paper by PhD student Ohseto which examines perinatal depression classified based on depressive symptom trajectories and genetic architecture has been published in Depression and Anxiety.
Perinatal depression symptoms occur in about 20% of mothers and can interfere with daily life and childcare. Previous studies have reported that the causal environmental factors and long-term effects vary according to the pattern of perinatal depression symptom severity over time. However, there have been few studies on genetic factors and no conclusions have yet been reached.
In the present study, mothers who cooperated in The Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study were asked to complete questionnaires four times, twice during pregnancy and twice after delivery, to estimate the temporal pattern of the degree of perinatal depressive symptoms. After a comprehensive examination of the association with genetic information, specific genetic differences were found for each temporal pattern of the degree of perinatal depressive symptoms. It was also found that those with a genetically higher risk of depression tended to have more perinatal depressive symptoms during pregnancy and within the first month postpartum, while those with a genetically higher risk of premenstrual syndrome tended to have more perinatal depressive symptoms after the first month postpartum.
The study revealed that genetic factors vary according to the pattern over time of the degree of perinatal depressive symptoms. It suggests the possibility of prevention and treatment according to genetic factors.
[Bibliographic Information]
Title: Risk factors, prognosis, influence on the offspring, and genetic architecture of perinatal depression classified based on the depressive symptom trajectory
Author(s): Hisashi Ohseto, Ippei Takahashi, Akira Narita, Taku Obara, Mami Ishikuro, Natsuko Kobayashi, Saya Kikuchi, Xue Li, Aoi Noda, Keiko Murakami, Gen Tamiya, Junichi Sugawara, Hiroaki Tomita, and Shinichi Kuriyama
Journal: Depression and Anxiety
Publication date: 15 March 2024
DOI: 10.1155/2024/6622666
URL: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/da/2024/6622666/