Yale is recipient of a $5 million grant for what is believed to be a first of its kind study examining a possible link between stress-related psychiatric disorders in pregnancy and low birth weight and premature delivery.
“Historically, there has been concern about psychiatric disorders occurring during the postpartum period, but this has been coupled with the notion that pregnancy protects mothers from becoming ill with a psychiatric illness, including a depressive, anxiety, or psychotic disorder,” said Kimberly Yonkers, associate professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and principal investigator of the study. “In a report my group recently published we found that the rate of depression was 20 percent among pregnant women in New Haven prenatal clinics. Moreover, of those depressed women, about 20 percent had suicidal thoughts.”
The five-year grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Development will be used to, among other things, screen women for stress related psychiatric illness. It will also recruit women who have no current or lifetime stress related illness, such as depression and anxiety. In order to recruit the necessary 3,400 women, about 10,000 pregnant women in Connecticut or Western Massachusetts will be screened.
The study also will enable the researchers to look at any possible effects of anti-depressants taken during pregnancy. “A lot of people argue that you don’t want to use anti-depressants during pregnancy,” said project director Megan Smith. “This study will allow us to separate out women who are on anti-depressants, and the possible effects on birth weight and pre-term delivery, from women experiencing stress, anxiety and depression.”
Those who enroll in the study will be interviewed at their home for 60-90 minutes. A follow up telephone call will be made in the third trimester, and then another call will be made after the baby is born.
For more information about enrolling in the study please call Megan Smith at 203-764-6621, or email her pinkandblue@yale.edu
