Depression
Significant Number of Fathers Experience Prenatal, Postpartum Depression
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About 10 percent of fathers experience prenatal or postpartum depression, with rates being highest in the 3 to 6 month postpartum period, according to an analysis of previous research appearing in the May 19 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on mental health.
James F. Paulson, Ph.D., of the Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Va., presented the findings of the study at a JAMA media briefing on mental health.
It is well established that maternal prenatal and postpartum depression is prevalent and has negative personal, family, and child developmental outcomes, but the prevalence, risk factors and effects of depression among new fathers is not well understood, and has received little attention from researchers and clinicians, according to background information in the article.
Which Comes First, Obesity or Depression?
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People who are obese are often diagnosed with clinical depression, but which comes first - the increased weight gain or the depression symptoms? Researchers from Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands have found that it is actually a two way street and each condition influences the other.
Floriana Luppino MD and colleagues reviewed medical literature up to March 2008 on overweight and obese conditions and their link to depression. In total, the researchers screened almost 3,000 articles. They performed a more intense meta-analysis on 15 of those studies which covered 58,745 subjects.
They found that those subjects already overweight or obese were more likely to be clinically depressed and that those who were depressed had an increased tendency to become obese.
At-risk college students reduce HBP, anxiety, depression through Transcendental Meditation
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The Transcendental Meditation® technique may be an effective method to reduce blood pressure, anxiety, depression, and anger among at-risk college students, according to a new study to be published in the American Journal of Hypertension, December 2009.
“The Transcendental Meditation Program, a widely-used standardized program to reduce stress, showed significant decreases in blood pressure and improved mental health in young adults at risk for hypertension,” said David Haaga, PhD, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at American University in Washington, D.C.
This study was conducted at American University with 298 university students randomly allocated to either the Transcendental Meditation technique or wait-list control over a three-month intervention period. A subgroup of 159 subjects at risk for hypertension was analyzed separately. At baseline and after three months, blood pressure, psychological distress, and coping ability were assessed.
New TMS Clinic at Rush University Medical Center Offers Non-Invasive Treatment for Major Depression
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Rush University Medical Center has opened the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Clinic to offer patients suffering from major depression a safe, effective, non-drug treatment. TMS therapy is the first FDA-approved, non-invasive antidepressant device-based treatment clinically proven for treatment of depression.
Psychiatrists at Rush University Medical Center were among the first to test the technique and Dr. Philip Janicak, professor of psychiatry and lead investigator at Rush for the clinical trials of TMS, helped to develop this therapy.
The TMS therapy system delivers highly focused magnetic field pulses to a specific portion of the brain, the left prefrontal cortex, in order to stimulate the areas of the brain linked to depression. The repeated short bursts of magnetic energy introduced through the scalp excite neurons in the brain.
Depression Medications May Reduce Male Fertility
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As many as half of all men taking the antidepressant medication paroxetine (trade names Seroxat, Paxil) may have increased sperm DNA fragmentation—a predictor of compromised fertility. Research led by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center also found that the changes are reversible with normal levels of sperm returning after discontinuation of the drug.
The study is currently published in the online edition of the journal Fertility & Sterility, and represents one of the first scientific investigations into the effect of antidepressants on sperm quality.
“It’s fairly well known that SSRI antidepressants negatively impact erectile function and ejaculation. This study goes one step further, demonstrating that they can cause a major increase in genetic damage to sperm,” says Dr. Peter Schlegel, the study’s senior author. “Although this study doesn’t look directly at fertility, we can infer that as many as half of men taking SSRIs have a reduced ability to conceive. These men should talk with their physician about their treatment options, including non-SSRI depression medications.”
Relationship found between napping, hyperactivity, depression and anxiety
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Napping may have a significant influence on young children’s daytime functioning, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Monday, June 8 at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
Results indicate that children between the ages of 4 and 5 who did not take daytime naps were reported by their parents to exhibit higher levels of hyperactivity, anxiety and depression than children who continued to nap at this age.
According to lead author Brian Crosby, PhD, postdoctoral fellow of psychology at Pennsylvania State University, previous studies have shown that poor or inadequate sleep is linked with symptoms of hyperactivity, anxiety and depression; researchers involved in this study were happy to demonstrate the potential importance of napping for optimal daytime functioning in young children, as napping is often overlooked in favor of nighttime or total sleep.
Intervention Helps Reduce Pain and Depression
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For patients who experience pain and depression, common co-existing conditions, an intervention that included individually tailored antidepressant therapy and a pain self-management program resulted in greater improvement in the symptoms of these conditions than patients who received usual care, according to a study in the May 27 issue of JAMA.
Pain complaints account for more than 40 percent of all symptom-related outpatient visits, and depression is present in 10 percent to 15 percent of all patients who receive primary care. Pain and depression frequently co-exist (30 percent-50 percent co-occurrence), effect the treatment responsiveness of each, and have adverse effects on quality of life, disability, and health care costs, according to background information in the article.
Kurt Kroenke, M.D., of Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, and colleagues conducted a study to determine if a combined pharmacological and behavioral intervention improves both depression and pain in primary care patients with musculoskeletal pain and co-existing depression. The trial (Stepped Care for Affective Disorders and Musculoskeletal Pain [SCAMP]) included 250 patients who had low back, hip, or knee pain for 3 months or longer and at least moderate depression severity. Patients were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 123) or to usual care (n = 127). Depression was assessed with the 20-item Hopkins Symptom Checklist, and pain primarily with the Brief Pain Inventory.
Depression tied to build-up of hidden belly fat
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A new study links depression to an accumulation of visceral fat—deep hidden fat deposits around the abdominal organs—which confers a greater risk of heart disease and diabetes than the more obvious subcutaneous fat that collects just under the skin.
Depression is known to increase the risk of heart disease, but just how they are connected has been unclear.
“Our results suggest that central adiposity, which is commonly called belly fat, is an important pathway by which depression contributes to the risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes,” principal investigator Dr. Lynda H. Powell of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago said in a prepared statement.
Drinking to up mood tied to alcoholism, depression
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People who drink to cope with the blues are more prone to becoming depressed and at greater risk of alcohol dependence, a new study shows.
The study team sought to determine whether drinking to manage mood might be related to both alcoholism and depression by looking at 5,181 twins aged 30 and older. Twin studies allow scientists to tease out the effects of environment and genes on certain traits.
Kelly C. Young-Wolff of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and her colleagues found that drinking to manage mood was strongly inherited and accounted for basically all of the genetic and environmental influences shared by depression and alcohol dependence.
Mood disorders common in polycystic ovary syndrome
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The prevalence of depression and anxiety among patients with polycystic ovary syndrome is high and warrants routine screening and aggressive treatment, investigators report in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
In a previous study, Dr. Anuja Dokras, at the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues identified high rates of depression (35 percent) among women with PCOS, substantially higher than the 10.7 percent rate among the comparison subjects. The current report is a follow-up to that study to determine the persistence of mood disorders and the incidence of new mood disorders.
Sixty of the original 103 women participated in the second survey, conducted an average of 22 months after the first survey.
Hormone linked to depression after pregnancy
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Increased levels of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), which is produced by the placenta, identifies women who are at risk for developing depression after their pregnancy ends, according to a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
“The high incidence and severe consequences of postpartum depression make the identification of women at risk an important research goal,” Dr. Ilona S. Yim at the University of California, Irvine, and co-investigators write in their report. They point out that several lines of evidence link CRH, a key hormone involved in regulating many other hormones, to depressive symptoms following delivery.
To further investigate, the researchers conducted a study in which hormone levels in the blood were measured several times throughout pregnancy in 100 women, starting at week 15. Sixteen women developed postpartum depression.
In-home counseling and peer support keep postnatal depression in check
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In-home counseling by health visitors trained to identify depression in new mothers reduces the prevalence of postnatal depression at 12 months, according to a trial in the UK, while a Canadian study indicates that telephone-based peer support is also effective in preventing postnatal depression among women at risk.
Both studies are reported in the January 16 issue of BMJ Online First.
To determine the long-term effectiveness of an in-home psychological intervention for postnatal depression, Dr. C. Jane Morrell at the University of Huddersfield and colleagues conducted a prospective, cluster-randomized trial among 4084 women from 101 general practices near Trent, England.
“Health visitors are qualified nurses, with special experience in child health, health promotion and health education, employed as part of the NHS community health service,” Dr. Morrell told Reuters Health. “Part of a health visitor’s role is to visit families with new babies, in their home, as part of routine child health surveillance.”
Nursing study concludes postnatal depression can possibly be prevented drug-free
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A heart-to-heart chat with a peer has proven an effective way to prevent postnatal depression in high risk women, cutting the risk of depression by 50%, according to a University of Toronto nursing study published in BMJ Online today.
Dr. Cindy-Lee Dennis, an associate professor at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and Canada research chair in perinatal community health, examined the effectiveness of telephone-based peer support to prevent postnatal depression in high risk women.
After Web-based screening of more than 21,000 women from seven health regions in Ontario, 701 high risk mothers were recruited and randomized to receive standard postnatal care or standard care and the support of a peer volunteer (who had experienced postnatal depression themselves).
Cancer patients’ depression tied to family woes
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Treating cancer patients’ depression may help their children stay mentally healthy too, new research in the Journal of Clinical Oncology suggests.
Dr. Florence Schmitt of the University Hospital of Turku in Finland and her colleagues conducted a study of 381 families in which a parent had cancer. They found that, overall, the families of cancer patients were doing well, but that an ill parent’s depression or physical impairment was linked to worse family function.
“Support systems need to be more family-oriented and child-centered in their approach to cancer psychosocial care,” Schmitt and her team write in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Treating depression seen important in heart failure
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Depression increases the risk of death in patients with heart failure, but the risk apparently disappears with antidepressant use, according to a study.
“Recent studies suggest that the use of antidepressants may be associated with increased mortality (death) in patients with cardiac disease,” Dr. Christopher M. O’Connor, of Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues note in the medical journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
“Because depression has also been shown to be associated with increased mortality in these patients, it remains unclear if this association is attributable to the use of antidepressants or to depression.”
