Pregnant women suffering from this disease affecting the central nervous system run a significantly higher risk of depression and anxiety than those suffering from other chronic diseases.
- In a recent study, mental illnesses affected 8.4 % of MS mothers during the prenatal period and 14.2 % during the first postnatal year.
- Depression and anxiety were the most frequent disorders.
- The results underline the need for preventive interventions and early treatment for mental illnesses.
As we know: psychic pathologies are the most common form of maternal morbidity in the general population. However, there is little knowledge of mental disorders during and after pregnancy in mothers with multiple sclerosis (MS). This is why researchers from Dalhousie University (Canada) decided to carry out a study, the results of which were published in the journal Neurology.
As part of the work, the authors recruited 894,852 mothers, including 1,745 attacks of multiple sclerosis, 5,954 of epilepsy, 4,924 of inflammatory intestine diseases, 13,002 in diabetes and 869,277 not having chronic diseases. At the time of the baby’s design, they were on average 28 years old. Scientists have analyzed mental illnesses, that is to say depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, psychosis, consumption of substances, attempted suicide before design, during pregnancy and up to three years after childbirth.
SEP: Half of mothers lived with a mental disorder after childbirth
Research revealed that 8.4 % of people with SEP suffered from new mental illness during pregnancy, and that this proportion reached 14.2 % in the first year after childbirth. “Prevalent mental disorders affected 42 % of mothers with MP during the prenatal period and 50.3 % during the first postnatal year.” Depression and anxiety were the most common conditions. About 1 % of women with PS have suffered from psychosis and almost 6 % have developed disorders linked to the use of psychoactive substances in the year that followed childbirth.
The first year after childbirth turned out to be a particularly vulnerable period. According to the team, the participants affected by MS were 33 % more likely to suffer from a mental illness than volunteers who do not suffer from this pathology affecting the central nervous system or another of the chronic diseases studied. Overall, half of the adults with MP lived with mental illness during the first year following childbirth.
Preventive interventions and early treatment of mental illnesses are necessary
These results underline the need for mental health screening and early intervention in mothers with multiple sclerosis. “Future studies should assess how global care strategies can best help mental health during this period”, said Colleen Maxwellmain author of the works and professor in schools of pharmacy and public health sciences at the University of Waterloo.
