Women who have premenstrual disorders are more prone to postpartum depression – scientists

Researchers have found that women who have premenstrual disorders are 5 times more likely to suffer from postpartum depression.

This trend persists in the reverse direction as well, writes News Medical, based on researchpublished in the journal PLOS Medicine.

Employees of the Karolinska Institute (Sweden) and the University of Iceland claim that both conditions have the same risk factors and are caused by a common factor – natural hormonal fluctuations.

The appearance of symptoms of both disorders is associated, in particular, with fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone. Postpartum depression occurs during a period of rapid decline in the level of steroid hormones after the birth of a child. Similarly, the onset of PMS symptoms usually follows a rapid decline in hormones during the luteal phase (the period between ovulation and menstruation).

Women experience these cyclical fluctuations in hormones during puberty, menstruation, pregnancy and menopause.

It is reported that every 3-5 women have one of the premenstrual disorders, and 11% of women who have given birth – perinatal depression.

Scientists used a large Swedish database and analyzed information on about 1.8 million pregnancies between 2001 and 2018. Scientists found out that about 85 thousand women who had postpartum depression were diagnosed with one of the premenstrual disorders.

“The findings suggest that both disorders may exist on a continuum (inseparability) and emphasize the importance of identifying this predisposition in clinical practice.”, – researchers believe.

The study of the connection between diseases will help to provide better medical services to women.

Earlier we wrote that in the USA approved the first pills for postpartum depression.

Anna Kovalenko, “UP. Life”