Postpartum Depression Has Been Closely Linked With The Immune System, Study Finds

Postpartum depression is thought to affect around 15 percent of women after giving birth, and can have a negative effect on kids too. A new study has found a possible link between the person's immune system and their lifestyle.

A team of researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University looked at multiple characteristics of blood samples from 482 women with postpartum depression and found significant differences in B-cells compared to those without the condition.

B-cells are a key part of the immune system and are activated when the body identifies foreign objects. Both pro- and anti- inflammatory signals are sent out by B-cells.

There is a delicate interplay of the immune system during pregnancy according to geneticist Jerry Guintivano.

It has to prevent infections from a cold and it also has to tune itself so it doesn't recognize the fetus as a foreign body and attack it. After the baby is born, all the hormones and pathways go back to normal.

Three types of biological analysis were used to identify the B-cell variations, all of which were designed to measure cell composition and activity.

The researchers found thousands of individual B-cell transcripts in women with PPD. Some of the differences were down to genes.

A fourth genetic technique called pathway analysis links coding sequence to possible physiological pathways, and it highlighted altered B-cell activation between those with and without PPD. It is not clear what is behind the variations or how they will play into the condition.

This is the biggest study of its type, but we don't know why B-cells are changing. What is driving this behavior?

Further studies will have to be carried out there. The team says that multiple avenues will need to be explored to fully understand the condition, despite previous research looking closely at genes and hormones.

The current study has the largest sample size of any study of its kind, and a few clues as to how the immune system could be the cause and potential fix for what new mothers are experiencing.

PPD can be a devastating condition for both parents of a child, leading to anxiety, low energy, extreme sadness, eating and sleeping issues, and even suicidal thoughts. The women who came forward for the research were praised by the researchers.

The women who participated in this study are new moms who came in during a very critical time when their babies were weeks old to participate in research to help other women.

I would like to thank them for that. We want to do their work justice.

The research has been published.