Obesity and the association with maternal mental health symptoms

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the association between maternal obesity and mood disorders including depression, anxiety, stress, and pregnancy-specific stress during pregnancy.

Study design: This was a planned secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study investigating factors associated with preterm delivery. The cohort included women who initiated prenatal care before 20 weeks with a singleton pregnancy. Maternal mental health was assessed using four standard psychosocial behavioral measures to screen for depression, pregnancy-specific stress, anxiety, and stress. Screen positive scores for each tool were established based on previously published “high” scores.

Results: Of the 1010 women included in the cohort, 355 (35.1%) were obese. There was no significant difference in the number of obese women with stress (64.2% versus 68.4%, p = 0.18), pregnancy-specific stress (26.2% versus 22.1%, p = 0.15), or anxiety (38.6% versus 41.2%, p = 0.42); however, a greater number of obese women did report symptoms consistent with major depression when compared to women with BMIs <30 (30.4% versus 21.2%, p < 0.01).

Conclusion: Obese women had higher rates of depression in early pregnancy compared to nonobese women. As many of the health behavior interventions for obese women during pregnancy have proven ineffective, incorporating depression screening and treatment into prenatal care may improve perinatal outcomes.

Keywords:

• Maternal obesity
• depression
• mental health

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

This study was supported by a National Institute of Health Reproductive Epidemiology Training Grant (T32-HD007440). National Institute of Mental Health and NIH Office of Research in Women’s Health (P50 MH099910). National Institute of Nursing Research (RO1NR014784-01). The funding sources had no involvement in study design, data collection, analysis, or writing of this manuscript.