Link found between contraception-related depression, postpartum depression

A history of hormonal contraception (HC)-associated depression is associated with an increased risk for postpartum depression (PPD), according to a study published online April 26 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Søren Vinther Larsen, M.D., from Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark, and colleagues examined the link between prior depression associated with HC initiation or not associated with HC initiation and risk for PPD in a cohort study involving women living in Denmark with their first delivery between Jan. 1, 1996, and June 30, 2017. Data were included for 188,648 first-time mothers: 3.0 percent had a history of depression associated with HC initiation and 9.8 percent had a history of depression not associated with HC initiation. PPD was defined as the onset of depression within six months after delivery.

The researchers found that the risk for PPD was higher for women with HC-associated depression than for women with non-HC-associated depression (crude odds ratio, 1.42; adjusted odds ratio, 1.35).

"Importantly, the findings do not imply that HC use leads to a higher risk of PPD but do indicate that a history of HC-associated depression may unmask PPD susceptibility, which may prove useful as a clinical tool in PPD risk stratification," the authors write.

Two authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.