One in 10 Mexican women who have a childbirth suffer from postpartum depression after pregnancy, although with the proper information and treatment they can achieve their full recovery. The symptoms appear during the first weeks after the birth of the baby, do not disappear or begin one or more months after the pregnancy.
Postpartum depression (also called perinatal) is a habitually underdiagnosed problem that affects maternal mental and physical health but also some aspects of the newborn such as physical, mental and cognitive, and has serious repercussions in adult life.
Symptoms of postpartum depression begin 6-12 weeks postpartum
Statistics on postpartum depression in Mexico are very heterogeneous and it is estimated that 30.7% of women suffer from depression at some point during pregnancy and up to one year after delivery. Usually, the symptoms begin 6-12 weeks postpartum and last for 7 months. Some sleep disorder is identified in up to 50% of these women.
It is clear that postpartum depression produces a high social cost due to the health expenses it represents and the unemployment, work absenteeism and loss of global productivity that it entails. For example, for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developmenthealth spending due to mental disorders can reach up to 4% of the national Gross Domestic Product.
May lead to suicide or infanticide
A delay in their care can lead to infanticide or suicide, this being the main cause of maternal death during the first postpartum year. Other factors that can increase health costs are spontaneous abortion, prematurity, preeclampsia, low birth weight, obstetric complications, and neonatal complications.
The determinants of mental health directly or indirectly favor or affect maternal mental health. That is why pollution, the adverse environment, malnutrition, drug use, stress, excessive physical work negatively affect the mental and physical health of the woman and the fetus.
