Male infants and birth complications are associated with increased incidence of postnatal depression

Sarah Myers and Sarah E. Johns

Social Science & Medicine, 2019, vol. 220, issue C, 56-64

Abstract: A growing body of literature links both depressive symptoms generally, and those specifically in the postnatal period, with an inflammatory immune response. Evolutionary medical approaches, such as the Pathogen Host Defence Theory of Depression (PATHOS-D), have likened depression to sickness behaviour in other mammals, and propose that the characteristics associated with depression are protective when an individual is experiencing pathogenic threat. Many known risk factors for depressive symptoms are associated with activation of inflammatory pathways, opening up the potential for identifying novel risk factors based on their inflammation causing effects.

Keywords: Postnatal depression; Infant sex; Birth complications; Inflammation; Evolutionary medicine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.10.008

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