It has been suggested that cognitive impairments may precede depression onset, co-appear, or even exist when depression is in remission ( 18). However, literature presents a controversy regarding the timeline of depression onset and the manifestation of cognitive impairments. Like depressive episodes, APD has been found to be accompanied by cognitive impairments ( 7, 17). In fact, APD is considered a unipolar, non-psychotic depressive episode that begins in or extends into pregnancy ( 15, 16). Also, the APD symptoms are comparable to major depressive disorder's (MDD) symptomatology. This is a rather noteworthy prevalence, since APD has been linked with a range of adverse outcomes, including preeclampsia, low birth weight, preterm delivery, and both cognitive and behavioral deficits in the child ( 14). The prevalence of depression during pregnancy, known as antepartum depression (APD), is ~15% according to the estimate of a recent systematic review ( 13). Interestingly, based on the latest meta-analysis ( 7), short-term cognitive impairments need to also be studied in the context of depressive symptoms during pregnancy. Meta-analyses on the short-term cognitive impairments during pregnancy report a modest reduction in verbal recall memory, working memory, and prospective memory ( 4, 7, 8). Some studies report no effect of pregnancy on cognition ( 9, 10) and others present evidence of cognitive deficiencies in specific domains ( 11, 12). Contradictory results have complicated the understanding of cognition during pregnancy ( 4, 7, 8). This “baby brain” phenomenon is widely encountered, since up to 80% of pregnant women report such subjective signs of cognitive impairments ( 6).Ĭurrent research on short-term cognitive impairments during pregnancy also employs objective neuropsychological measures to pinpoint them ( 7). Short-term cognitive impairment, popularly named as “pregnancy/baby brain” in terms of increased forgetfulness, short attention span and disorientation has been widely reported ( 1– 5). Pregnancy and the postpartum period constitute one of the most vulnerable periods of women's life, wherein women undergo surmountable hormonal, mental and physiological changes. Future studies are required to further explore the pathophysiology behind and the predictive value of these associations. Among all women, but especially non-depressed earlier in life and/or at antepartum, those scoring high on the forward memory test, i.e., short-term memory, had a higher risk for PPD. DSF was a predictor of PPD symptoms only for women without a pre-pregnancy history of depression (OR 1.32 95% CI 1.04, 1.67, p = 0.024) and also those without APD (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.01, 1.43, p = 0.040).Ĭonclusion: There was no significant association between working and short-term memory performance and APD symptoms. Unadjusted regression modeling showed that DSF in pregnancy was a significant predictor of PPD symptoms (OR 1.15 95% CI, 1.00, 1.33, p = 0.049), and remained a significant predictor when adjusted for confounders (education and feeling rested at assessment OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.03, 1.42, p = 0.022). APD symptoms were significantly associated with PPD symptoms ( p < 0.001). Results: APD symptoms were not significantly associated with DSF ( p = 0.769) or DSB ( p = 0.360). Unadjusted and multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the association between performance on the Digit Span Task and outcome, namely depressive symptoms (using a cut-off of 12 points on the EPDS) at 38 gestational weeks, as well as at 6 weeks postpartum. The Wechsler Digit Span Task (forward-DSF, backward-DSB and total score-DST) was performed to evaluate short-term memory/attention (DSF) and working memory (DSB) around the 38th gestational week the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), evaluating depressive symptoms, was filled out at 17, 32, 38 gestational weeks, as well as at 6 weeks postpartum. Method: We conducted a prospective follow-up of 283 pregnant women, nested within a large cohort of women enrolled in the BASIC study in Uppsala University hospital between 20. In this study, we aimed to evaluate whether memory performance during late pregnancy is associated with antepartum (APD) and postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms. 2Department of Medical Sciences, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Swedenīackground: Few studies, with conflicting results, report on the association between memory performance and depressive symptoms during the perinatal period.1Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.1 †, Emma Bränn 1, Emma Fransson 1, Inger Sundström Poromaa 1, Fotios C.
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