Any serious loss requires grieving time, and the birth of stillborn child is no exception. However, a recent study suggests that women who have experienced a stillbirth should be monitored for depressive symptoms well after the standard six-month grieving period - up to three years, in fact. Among women who have given birth and who have no history of depression, women who have had a stillbirth are at significantly higher risk of developing long-term depression.
The research was conducted by the NIH's Stillbirth Collaborate Research Network (SCRN), which defines stillbirth as the death of a baby at or after the 20th week of pregnancy. It occurs in 1 out of 160 pregnancies in the United States, a surprisingly high ratio.
This study is the first to show definitively that women who have no history of depression may face a risk for it many months after a stillbirth
From 2006-2008, the researchers enrolled nearly 800 women from 59 hospitals across the U.S., around a third of whom had delivered a stillbirth (with the other two-thirds having had delivered a healthy baby). In 2009, the women were asked to complete a questionnaire designed to gauge whether they were experiencing symptoms of depression.
After accounting for other factors related to depression and stillbirth among the more than 76 percent of women who did not have a history of depression, the researchers found that women who had a stillbirth were twice as likely to have a high depression score compared to women who had a live birth. This difference was even greater among those responding to the questionnaire 2-3 years after they had delivered, at nearly nine times as likely.
In an NIH article, author Carol Hogue, PhD, director of the Women's and Children's Center at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta and first author of the study, said, "Earlier studies have found that women with a history of depression are especially vulnerable to persistent depression after a stillbirth, even after the subsequent birth of a healthy child," but this study is the first to show definitively that women who have no history of depression may face a risk for depression many months after a stillbirth.
The study appears in the March issue of the journal Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology.
Previously: 2020 Mom Project promotes awareness of perinatal mood disordersLosing Jules: Breaking the silence around stillbirth, A call to break the silence of stillbirth and Pregnancy loss puts parents' relationship at risk
Photo by Gates Foundation
