Depression Delays Pregnancy: Mental Health Affects Conception Probability

Mental health is now found to be a factor that contributes to the likelihood of becoming pregnant. A new study proposes that moderate to severe depression in point of fact decreases pregnancy possibility.

Effects Of Depression And Psychotropic Drugs On Pregnancy Plans

According to Science Daily, researchers from the Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine determined that pregnancy probability in moderately to severely depressed women goes down by 38 percent. The same research also indicated that psychotropic drugs used to treat severe depression do not seem to affect fertility.

This finding is significant as earlier studies proposed a link between infertility and use of psychoactive medications. Yael Nillni, lead author of the recent study, stated that pregnancy is delayed among moderately to severely depressed women of child-bearing age regardless of psychotropic treatment.

On The Factors That Link Depression And Decreased Pregnancy Probability

The research used data gathered through PRESTO (Pregnancy Study Online) from 2,100 women, who were planning pregnancy. The women were aged from 21 to 45 years.

Business Standard reports that of these women, 22 percent were diagnosed with clinical depression. Of the 2,100 subjects, 17 percent are former psychotropic drug users while 10.3 percent reported to be current psychotropic drug users.

The study, recently published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, only noted the possible causes for the association between depression and pregnancy delay. Conclusive findings have yet to be made on these possibilities.

A cited example is the indirect effect of depression on a women's menstrual cycle thereby affecting conception capability by the body. A disruption to the regularity in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, such as affected by depression, is believed to produce this result.

Secondary Findings Involving Psychotropic Drugs And Pregnancy

Interestingly, treatment with SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) antidepressants is found to improve pregnancy probability among moderately to severely depressed women. Benzodiazepines, on the other hand, remains linked to decreased pregnancy probability.
The researchers qualified that further study must be made on these depression medications to arrive at irrefutable findings. Their findings, however, significantly ties in with previous findings that women are likely to experience depression and similar mental health disorders during child-bearing years.