Post-traumatic stress disorder, accompanying episodes of depression, significantly increases the risk of preterm labor. According to the authors of the discovery, this is an effect independent of the drugs taken in connection with these diseases.
An article on this topic appeared in the latest issue of JAMA Psychiatry.
Premature delivery, that is, one that occurs before 37 weeks of pregnancy, is the leading cause of death in newborns in the world. For years, doctors have been trying to find out which external factors are conducive to the occurrence of preterm labor, which is a threat to the life of the child. Among many other diseases, mental diseases (and the drugs used in their therapy) are also tested in this regard.
Researchers from the Yale University School of Medicine (USA) analyzed the cases of 2654 pregnant women enrolled in the study before week 17 of pregnancy. It was assessed whether they were affected by disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or episodes of major depression. It was also checked whether they were using benzodiazepine antidepressants or sedatives. Then, the number of premature deliveries (before 37 weeks gestation) among the participants was measured.
It turned out that both these disorders occurred in a few percent of the surveyed women. Women who had both PTSD symptoms and depressive episodes were four times more likely to have preterm labor than healthy patients. It was also noted that the stronger the symptoms of PTSD, the higher the risk of having a premature baby. “Increasing the severity of symptoms by every one point on the PTSD measurement scale increased the risk of preterm labor by 1-2%.” – explain the authors of the work.
Also, taking antidepressants or anxiolytics slightly increased the risk of preterm labor, but to a much lesser extent than the very fact of depressive disorders and PTSD in a woman.
Therefore, we believe that the risk of preterm labor in women with PTSD is independent of the use of antidepressants and benzodiazepines, the researchers emphasize. As they emphasize, preterm labor is not a derivative of a depressed mood or the presence of anxiety symptoms, which can be completely eliminated thanks to drugs, but depends on the very presence of disorders such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.
The authors believe that more research is needed to understand the biological and genetic factors that will help elucidate the exact mechanism that leads to preterm labor, which will also help identify and give special care to women at risk.