Reduction in pain during childbirth reduces the risk of postpartum depression

Doctor of medicine Catherine Wiesner believes that managing pain during and after childbirth may reduce the risk of postpartum depression.

The conclusions of the expert based on a new Chinese study that found that women who provided pain control with epidural anesthesia during a vaginal delivery, had lower risk of postpartum depression. Wiesner says: "Increasing the control of pain during labour and delivery, your obstetrician and anesthesiologist can help to reduce the risk of postpartum depression.





The results of the study are among the few that studied the relationship between pain during labor and postpartum depression. The expert is convinced: "This is a huge omission that there was almost no research about pain during labor and postpartum depression. There is a known relationship between acute and chronic pain and depression.

A Chinese study showed that women who had epidural analgesia during childbirth, had a depression rate of 14 percent, compared with almost 35 percent of those who had no analgesia.The study also showed that breastfeeding was more common in the group with anesthesia (70%), compared to those who did not (50%).

Wiesner says: "These results are very exciting, and further research is needed to confirm them, especially in women with an increased risk of postpartum depression".

Source: nauka24news.ru/