Antenatal depression and maternal infant directed speech during the first postnatal year.

Background: Antenatal depression is emerging as a potential risk factor for lower maternal sensitivity during postnatal mother-infant interactions. The present study investigated the relationship between both antenatal and postnatal depression and features of infant directed speech, a key indicator of maternal sensitivity during the first postnatal year.

Methods: Pregnant women with either a clinical diagnosis of Major Depressive disorder (MDD; n = 20) or a history of MDD (n = 26) and a control group (n = 34) were recruited to the study and followed up at two, six and twelve months postpartum.

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the perinatal period: Its relationship with major depressive disorder and early life adversity.

Effects of major depressive disorder and early life adversity (ELA) on the maternal HPA axis in the perinatal period were examined. Four groups of women ( = 127) were recruited, with the perinatal groups being compared during pregnancy (Preg) and at two months postpartum (PP) - [1] Depressed during pregnancy (Depressed-Preg/PP), [2] Prior history of depression but euthymic during pregnancy (History-Preg/PP), [3] Healthy pregnant women (Control-Preg/PP), and [4] Healthy non-pregnant women (Non-pregnant Control). Serial saliva samples were collected over the course of a day and waking and evening cortisol, total cortisol output and the cortisol awakening response were examined.

Antenatal depression and the impact on infant cognitive, language and motor development at six and twelve months postpartum.

Background: Antenatal depression is associated with adverse social-emotional and behavioural outcomes during childhood but there has been little investigation of the impact on infant neurodevelopment during the first postnatal year.

Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of depression during pregnancy on infant cognitive, language and motor development at six and twelve months using a prospective longitudinal study design.

Participants: Pregnant women with a clinical diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD; n = 23), a history of MDD (n = 34) and a control group (n = 43) and their infants.

A population survey of prevalence rates of antenatal depression in the Irish obstetric services using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS).

Ireland has the second-highest birth rate in Europe and poorly developed perinatal psychiatry services. There are no screening services for antenatal depression and no data available on prevalence rates of depression among women attending the Irish obstetric services. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence rates of depression during pregnancy in a population sample in Ireland using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) as a screening tool.

DNA methylation differences at the glucocorticoid receptor gene in depression are related to functional alterations in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity and to early life emotional abuse.

Depression is associated with alterations in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity. A proposed mechanism to explain these alterations are changes in DNA methylation levels, secondary to early life adversity (ELA), at stress-related genes. Two gene regions that have been implicated in the literature, the glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) exon 1F and the FKBP5 gene intron 7 were examined in 67 individuals (33 depressed patients and 34 controls).