Depression During Pregnancy Could Mean Diabetes — Here’s Why

A new government study has found that pregnant women who are battling depression could also be at risk of developing diabetes. Doctors are now monitoring pregnant women with symptoms of depression.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) researchers recently concluded a study that has found a link between depression and gestational diabetes. According to Live Science, experts discovered a condition wherein a pregnant woman without diabetes produces high blood sugar levels as part of the hormonal changes of the gestation period.

The findings of the research, which was published online in Diabetologia, suggest that depression and gestational diabetes tend to develop together among pregnant women. Furthermore, the researchers claimed that the data they collected from over 2,800 women enrolled in the NCID Fetal Growth Studies-Singleton Cohort appear to suggest postpartum depression could also be triggered by gestational diabetes.

Senior study author Cuilin Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., noted that in the study they conducted, women who were still in their first to second trimester had the greater risk of developing gestational diabetes since they manifested persistent depression. Specifically, these women were found to have thrice the risk of developing gestational diabetes, as per National Institutes of Health.

The study's findings were based on the calculated depression scores of each participant after they were asked to fill out questionnaires during their first and second trimesters. To obtain solid foundation on the probability of having gestational diabetes, researchers also reviewed each of the participants' medical records.

Another significant finding researchers found in the course of the study was the comparative risks of developing gestational diabetes between obese and depressed women. Non-obese women with symptoms of depression were found to have greater likelihood of developing high blood sugar levels than depressed women who were obese.

"Until we learn more, physicians may want to consider observing pregnant women with depressive symptoms for signs of gestational diabetes," the Division of Intramural Population Health Research at the NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD staff scientist and first author of the study Stefanie Hinkle, Ph.D., said. "They also may want to monitor women who have had gestational diabetes for signs of postpartum depression."