It May Persist Three Years After Giving Birth.

• Position: POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION

A National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study of 5,000 women has found that approximately one in four women experienced high levels of depressive symptoms at some point in the three years after giving birth. The rest of the women experienced low levels of depression throughout the three-year span.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that mothers be screened for postpartum depression at well-child visits at one, two, four, and six months after childbirth. Researchers identified four trajectories of postpartum depressive symptoms and the factors that may increase a woman's risk for elevated symptoms. The findings suggest that extending screening for postpartum depressive symptoms for at least two years after childbirth may be beneficial.

"Our study indicates that six months may not be long enough to gauge depressive symptoms," says primary author Diane Putnick, staff scientist in the NICHD Epidemiology Branch. 'This...