During the perinatal period, women may be more susceptible to depressive symptoms because of fluctuating oestrogen levels. Genetic variations, epigenetic modifications and varying gene expression levels of oestrogen receptor genes may contribute to inter-individual differences in the encoded receptors’ sensitivity to oestrogen, ultimately modulating the susceptibility to depressive symptoms.

The aim of this systematic review was to provide an overview of the literature on the association between oestrogen receptor genes and perinatal depression symptoms by including genetic, epigenetic and gene expression studies.

A systematic search of three public databases, PubMed, PsycINFO and Web of Science, was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42023447446). Two independent reviewers extracted data and assessed study quality.

A total of 29 studies were finally included, of which 16 investigated genetic variants, five investigated epigenetic modifications and eight investigated gene expression levels of oestrogen receptor genes. A limited number of genetic variations were found to be associated with perinatal depression symptoms, most of them in ESR1. Moreover, DNA methylation marks involved in oestrogen signalling, and gene expression levels of ESR1 and ESR2, were found to be associated with perinatal depression symptoms.

Genetic variations, epigenetic modifications and gene expression levels of oestrogen receptor genes are associated with susceptibility to perinatal depression symptoms. The underlying mechanism might be the inter-individual modulation of the encoded receptors’ sensitivity to oestrogen. Future research employing more comprehensive and integrative approaches is needed to better understand the aetiology of perinatal depression symptoms.

Peripartum depression (PPD) is a prevalent mental health disorder in the peripartum period. However, a recent systematic review of clinical guidelines relating to PPD has revealed a significant inconsistency in recommendations.

This study aimed to collect up-to-date evidence on the effectiveness of interventions and provide recommendations for prevention, screening and treating PPD.

A series of umbrella reviews on the effectiveness of PPD prevention, screening and treatment interventions was conducted. A search was performed in five databases from 2010 until 2023. The guidelines were developed according to the GRADE framework and AGREE II Checklist recommendations. Public stakeholder review was included.

One hundred and forty-five systematic reviews were included in the final analysis and used to form the guidelines. Forty-four recommendations were developed, including recommendations for prevention, screening and treatment. Psychological and psychosocial interventions are strongly recommended for preventing PPD in women with no symptoms and women at risk. Screening programmes for depression are strongly recommended during pregnancy and postpartum. Cognitive–behavioural therapy is strongly recommended for PPD treatment for mild to severe depression. Antidepressant medication is strongly recommended for treating severe depression in pregnancy. Electroconvulsive therapy is strongly recommended for therapy-resistant and life-threatening severe depression during pregnancy. Other recommendations are offered to healthcare professionals, stakeholders and researchers in managing PPD in different contexts.

Treatment recommendations should be implemented after carefully considering clinical severity, previous history, risk–benefit for mother and foetus/infant and women’s values and preferences. Implementation of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines within country-specific contexts should be facilitated.

While biomarkers are widely used in other medical fields, psychiatry has yet to introduce reliable biological diagnostic tools. Female reproductive transitions provide a unique window of opportunity for investigating psychiatric biomarkers. Hormonal changes across menstruation, pregnancy, parturition and perimenopause can have dramatic effects on mental health in vulnerable individuals, enabling the identification of unique biomarkers associated with these fluctuations.

This review integrates current evidence concerning potential biomarkers, with focus on recent human studies in perinatal depression, anxiety and obsessive–compulsive disorder, postpartum psychosis, premenstrual dysphoric disorder and perimenopausal depression.

We identified potential articles to be included in this narrative review by using PubMed to obtain articles in English since 2010 on the six conditions listed above, with the additional keywords of ‘biomarker’, ‘epigenetics’, ‘neuroactive steroid’, ‘immune’, ‘inflammatory’ and ‘neuroimaging’.

There is substantial published evidence regarding potential biomarkers of reproductive psychiatric disorders in the areas of epigenetics, neuroactive steroids, immune function and neuroimaging. This body of research holds significant potential to advance biomarker development, uncover disease mechanisms and improve diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, but there is as yet no clinically useful biomarker in commercial development for any reproductive psychiatric disorder.

There is an urgent need for longitudinal, large-scale and multi-modal studies to examine potential biomarkers and better understand their functions across various stages of reproduction.

Sensitivity to ovarian hormone fluctuations can lead to mental distress during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, such as in premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), and also during pregnancy and postpartum, as in perinatal depression (PND).

In two cohorts, we investigated the relationship between history of PMS/PMDD and PND symptoms. We also examined how premenstrual symptoms are associated with perinatal symptom trajectories and dimensional phenotypes of PND symptoms, which remains unidentified.

From early pregnancy until 6 months postpartum, participants of two large longitudinal cohorts were followed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Premenstrual symptoms were self-reported retrospectively.

Both pre-pregnancy PMS and PMDD were associated with higher EPDS scores across pregnancy and postpartum, even after adjustment for confounders. The odds of developing PND were higher among those reporting PMS and PMDD, ranging up to 1.68 (95% CI 1.25–2.29) (6–13 weeks postpartum) and 3.05 (95% CI 2.26–4.10) (late pregnancy) respectively for PMS and PMDD, throughout the perinatal period. Premenstrual symptomatology was associated more with certain PND trajectories based on the time of occurrence and persistence of symptoms. However, PND symptom severity did not differ depending on premenstrual symptomatology in any trajectory. Prior PMS/PMDD was associated with underlying dimensions of symptom constructs of PND, including severe and moderate symptoms of depressed mood, anxiety and anhedonia.

Women with a history of PMS/PMDD require coordinated care by psychiatrists, other mental health clinicians, midwives and gynaecologists during pregnancy as well as postpartum.

There have been inconsistent findings for an association between assisted reproductive technology (ART) and poorer perinatal emotional wellbeing. This study is to explore whether ART is associated with increased depression and depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and parenting stress, and poorer antenatal attachment, over the perinatal period from pregnancy to 12 months postpartum.

This study drew on data collected within an ongoing cohort from 806 women including 42 who had conceived using ART, and all recruited in early pregnancy and followed to 12 months postpartum. Measures included the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, State and Trait Anxiety Inventory, Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale and Parenting Stress Index.

Women who conceived with ART were no more likely to be depressed. They had lower depressive and anxiety symptoms in early pregnancy, higher antenatal attachment and lower parenting stress. However, women who conceived with ART had a significant increase in depressive and anxiety symptoms in late pregnancy which reduced in the postpartum and showed a distinct pattern compared to those who conceived naturally.

This study found that women who conceived with ART did not have poorer emotional wellbeing across the perinatal period. However, in late pregnancy depressive and anxiety symptoms did rise and consideration of this clinically and in future research is warranted.

Postpartum depression (PPD), now referred to as perinatal depression, is a prevalent and debilitating mood disorder that reduces health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and psychosocial functioning. Esketamine, which is efficacious in adults with treatment-resistant depression and individuals with depression and suicidality, is also analgesic in pain management during childbirth labour. Herein, we investigate the efficacy of prophylactic esketamine in reducing the incidence of PPD.

We performed a systematic review (i.e., PubMed, Scopus, and Ovid databases; inception to January 22, 2024) of randomized controlled trials that investigated the use of esketamine for PPD. We delimited our search to studies that prespecified the prevention of PPD with esketamine as the primary outcome. A meta-analysis was performed on PPD incidence rates using a random effects model.

Our analysis consisted of seven studies that met our eligibility criteria. We found that esketamine was significantly associated with a decreased incidence of PPD diagnosis within one week of childbirth (OR = 0.30, 95% CI = [0.15, 0.60], p = 0.0047). We also observed that esketamine was significantly associated with a decreased incidence of PPD diagnosis between 4 to 6 weeks post-delivery (OR = 0.33, 95% CI = [0.18, 0.59], p = 0.0034).

Our results indicate that esketamine may have preventive antidepressant effects during the postpartum period. The aforementioned points have both mechanistic and clinically meaningful implications for the treatment of PPD.

This prospective study aimed to assess couples’ psychological status during the perinatal period to identify those at risk for postpartum depression.

Conducted at Lyon University Hospital from March to July 2022, the study enrolled pregnant women without progressive psychiatric disorders or obstetric risk factors, and their partners. Participants completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at three points: during the 9th month of pregnancy, immediate postpartum, and 6–8 weeks after delivery. A score ≥10 on the EPDS indicated depression risk. A score ≥10 on the EPDS indicate depression risk. The primary endpoint was EPDS scores throughout the perinatal period.

Ninety-five couples participated; 96% of patients and 68% of partners completed pre-delivery questionnaires, 81% and 71% during maternity stay, and 64% and 46% postpartum, respectively. Overall, 15% of patients and 1% of partners had EPDS scores >10 in the postpartum period. Psychiatric history and emergency cesarean sections were associated with higher immediate postpartum EPDS scores in patients [Beta 3.7 points, 95% CI 0.91; 6.4 and Beta 5.2 points, 2.2; 8.1, respectively]. Episiotomy was associated with higher EPDS scores in partners. No significant association between the different factors studied and the EPDS score was found at 6–8 weeks postpartum in patients nor their partners.

While specific risk factors for persistent perinatal depression in couples were not identified, a notable proportion of patients exhibited high EPDS scores. Screening all couples during prepartum and postpartum periods is crucial, regardless of identified risk factors.

To assess the effect of food insecurity on perinatal depression in rural Ethiopia.

We used a prospective cohort in which food insecurity was considered as primary exposure and perinatal depression as an outcome. Food insecurity at baseline (in the period of 8–24 weeks of pregnancy) was measured using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), and perinatal depression at follow-up (in 32–36 weeks of pregnancy) was measured using a Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). We used multivariable regression to assess the effect of food insecurity on the prevalence of perinatal depression. We explored food insecurity’s direct and indirect impacts on perinatal depression using structural equation modelling (SEM).

This paper used data from the Butajira Nutrition, Mental Health and Pregnancy (BUNMAP) cohort established under the Butajira Health and Demographic Surveillance Site (BHDSS).

Seven hundred and fifty-five pregnant women.

Among the study participants, 50 % were food-insecure, and about one-third were depressed at 32–36 follow-up. In SEM, higher values of baseline food insecurity, depressive symptoms and state–trait anxiety (STA) were positively and significantly associated with perinatal depression. The direct impact of food insecurity on perinatal depression accounts for 42 % of the total effect, and the rest accounted for the indirect effect through baseline depression (42 %) and STA (16 %).

The significant effect of food insecurity at baseline on perinatal depression and the indirect effect of baseline food insecurity through baseline anxiety and depression in the current study implies the importance of tailored interventions for pregnant women that consider food insecurity and psychosocial problems.

Perinatal maternal depression may affect fetal neurodevelopment directly or indirectly via exposures such as smoking, alcohol, or antidepressant use. The relative contribution of these risk factors on child executive function (EF) has not been explored systematically.

A prospective pregnancy cohort of 197 women and their children was studied to determine whether maternal depression diagnosis and the trajectory of maternal depressive symptoms (MDSs) from early pregnancy to 12 months postpartum predicts child EF at age 4 (measured using the preschool age psychiatric assessment, NEPSY-II, and Shape School task) using latent growth curve modeling. Indirect effects of smoking, alcohol, and antidepressant use were also formally tested.

Increasing maternal perinatal depressive symptoms over time predicted more inattentive symptoms, poorer switching, and motor inhibition, but not cognitive inhibition. When adjusted for multiple comparison, and after accounting for maternal cognition and education, the association with child inattentive symptoms remained significant. However, diagnosed depression did not predict child EF outcomes. Prenatal exposure to smoking, alcohol, and antidepressants also did not mediate pathways from depressive symptoms to EF outcomes. Our findings were limited by sample size and statistical power to detect outcome effects of smaller effect size.

This study suggests that increasing MDSs over the perinatal period is associated with poorer EF outcomes in children at age 4 – independent of prenatal smoking, drinking, or antidepressant use. Depressive chronicity, severity, and postpartum influences may play crucial roles in determining childhood outcomes of EF.

Body Mass Index (BMI) is an informative factor on body fatness which has been associated to higher levels of Perinatal Depression (PD) and complications during pregnancy. We aimed to explore the impact of pre-pregnancy and postnatal BMI on the risk of Perinatal Depression and pregnancy outcomes among women recruited at their third trimester of pregnancy.

We report on findings from a large multi-centre study conducted in the South of Italy and involving 1611 women accessing three urban gynaecological departments from July to November 2020. Pregnant women were assessed at their third trimester of pregnancy (T0) and after the childbirth (T1) ;The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) has been employed for the screening of PD over time (T0 and T1) as well as other standardized measures for neuroticism, resilience, and quality of life at baseline. BMI (T0 and T1) and other socio-demographic and clinical characteristics have been collected.

Over-weight and obesity (higher levels of BMI) were associated with higher risk of PD (higher scores of EPDS), higher neuroticism and poorer subjective psychological well-being among enrolled women. Also, obesity and over-weight were associated with lower education, higher number of physical comorbidities, medical treatments and complications during pregnancy.

Over-weight and obesity may impact on mental health and pregnancy outcome of women enrolled. Psycho-educational interventions aimed to improve the management of physical and emotional issues may reduce the risk of PD and complications during pregnancy.