Postpartum depression can damage women’s finances

TUESDAY, Nov. 30, 2021 (HealthDay News) – In addition to its dire impact on mental health, postpartum depression can also bring long-term financial struggles to affected women, new research shows.

“These findings underscore the importance of screening and expanding access to mental health support services for low-income pregnant women and postpartum women,” said study author Slava Rokicki, an instructor at the Rutgers School of Public Health in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

For the study, researchers analyzed data on more than 4,300 American women who had babies between 1998 and 2000 and were followed up until 2017.

About 12% of women meet the criteria for major depression in the year after birth. These women are more likely to have been born in the United States, to have lower household incomes, and to have received social assistance in the year before giving birth.

Postpartum depression in the first year after birth is strongly associated with financial difficulties – such as difficulty in covering medical expenses, suspension of utilities, inability to pay bills and even eviction and homelessness – up to 15 years later.

Postpartum depression is also linked to unemployment in the first three years after birth and poverty from three to nine years after birth, according to findings published recently in American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

“This study also has implications for the cost-effectiveness of maternal health interventions,” said study co-author Mark McGovern, an assistant professor at Rutgers School of Public Health. “Our results suggest that programs designed to reduce the prevalence of depression in mothers should be seen not only as interventions that promote public health, but also as interventions that increase economic well-being.”

More info

The US Women’s Health Service has more information on postpartum depression.

SOURCES: Rutgers University, news release, November 17, 2021