This review of oral health promotion in pregnancy included 7 studies with the majority (5) focused on improving knowledge. The description of the interventions was generally vague and just one was based on a recognised health behaviour theory.
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Susie Johnson summarises a systematic review that explores the relationship between sleep disruption and postpartum mental illness, which reports a link between self-reported poor sleep during and after pregnancy and the development of postpartum depression.
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Sarah McDonald appraises a systematic review of CBT for treating and preventing perinatal depression. The meta-analysis finds that, when compared to control conditions, CBT resulted in significant reductions in depressive symptoms in both treatment and prevention studies.
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This review included 15 retrospective case-controlled studies and found that Maternal passive smoking was associated with an increased risk in non-syndromic orofacial clefts OR= 2.11, (95% CI: 1.54-2.89)
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Meg Fluharty highlights a recent study suggesting that financial incentives may be beneficial in helping pregnant women quit smoking. This recent study investigated the effectiveness of shopping vouchers in addition to NHS Stop Smoking Services to aid quit attempts in pregnant women.
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A recent report estimated the societal cost of perinatal mental health problems to be £8 billion, but should we believe it? Chris Sampson advises caution.
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Lucy Simons reports on a meta-ethnography that explores what facilitates peer support for perinatal mental illness. Her key finding from appraising the review is that women who experience perinatal mental illness need support from the right sort of peer (i.e. women who have had mental distress in the context of motherhood) to make the relationship beneficial and to aid recovery.
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This new report from the King’s Fund summarises available evidence from major reconfiguration programmes. A timely publication given the emphasis on the need for transformation in current policy.
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Clinical Psychologist Sarah McDonald writes her debut blog on a recent cohort study of breastfeeding and postpartum depression, which concludes that the effect of breastfeeding on maternal depression is extremely heterogeneous.
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Nikki Newhouse summarises a recent US health technology assessment of antidepressants for depression in pregnancy and the postpartum period, which concludes that the evidence remains inconclusive about the benefits and harms of antidepressants for depression in pregnancy.
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