Preterm delivery is more likely in women with depressive symptoms

Women who have depressive symptoms early in pregnancy are more likely to deliver their babies prematurely than those without such symptoms, a new study has found.

The large US, non-profit healthcare group Kaiser Permanente, which was behind the study, had already begun using a simple questionnaire to screen for depressive symptoms in pregnant women in a pilot project in northern California and is expecting to using it more widely, said the study’s lead author, De-Kun Li, senior research scientist at the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute, Oakland, California.

The study reported that 41% of women in early pregnancy had significant depressive symptoms and 22% had severe symptoms. In comparison …