(RxWiki News) Depression and gestational diabetes may be linked, according to the National Institutes of Health.
And this link may go both ways, according to analyses of the pregnancy records of more than 2,800 women.
The researchers behind this study found that women who felt depressed during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy were more likely to develop gestational diabetes. In fact, those who had the highest scores for depression in the first two trimesters had nearly triple the risk for gestational diabetes.
And a separate analysis of these pregnancy records suggested that women who had developed gestational diabetes were more likely to report postpartum depression within six weeks of giving birth.
Gestational diabetes, a type of diabetes marked by high blood sugar, only occurs in pregnancy.
These researchers noted that the chance of developing gestational diabetes was actually higher for non-obese women who reported depression when compared to obese women with depression.
This study was not able to determine a cause-and-effect link between depression and gestational diabetes, these researchers stressed.
Speak with your doctor about your risk for gestational diabetes and depression during pregnancy.
This study was recently published in the journal Diabetologia. The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development funded this research. Information on potential conflicts of interest was not available at the time of publication.
