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Perinatal Depression: Emerging Perspectives
and Practices
Wednesday, June 29, 2005, 2-3 p.m., EDT
Overview
It isn’t just the “baby blues.” According to the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality’s (AHRQ’s) 2005 report Perinatal Depression:
Prevalence, Screening, Accuracy, and Screening Outcomes, depression
is as common in women during pregnancy as it is after giving birth. Perinatal
depression, a condition that encompasses major and minor depressive episodes
that occur either during pregnancy or within the first 12 months after
delivery, may affect as many as 5 to 25 percent of new mothers. The repercussions
of this are of significant public health concern, because perinatal depression
is the leading cause of disease-related disability among women, resulting
in depressive episodes and negatively impacting women’s children
and families.
This DataSpeak program opens with
a senior official from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s
Maternal and Child Health Bureau, who discusses why perinatal
depression is of concern and describes current Federal activities
to address the issue. A representative from AHRQ follows
to share the findings and implications of AHRQ’s newly
released evidence report, as will a senior researcher from
the Children’s National Medical Center, who presents
new data on the prevalence of perinatal depression among various
racial and ethnic groups. Finally, a representative of the
Illinois Department of Health’s Office of Family Health
describes and shares information on efforts to address perinatal
depression in the State.
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