RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The role of anxiety and depressive disorders prior to pregnancy for changes in peripartum psychopathological symptoms has not been resolved yet. METHODS: A regional-epidemiological sample of 306 women was prospectively followed in seven waves from early pregnancy until 16 months postpartum. Lifetime DSM-IV anxiety and depressive disorders were assessed at baseline with the CIDI-V. Psychopathological symptoms (somatization, obsession-compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism) were measured with the BSI three times during pregnancy and three times after delivery. RESULTS: Multilevel analyses revealed that women with versus without lifetime anxiety (ß=0.22 to ß=0.32) and depressive (ß=0.24 to ß=0.34) disorders prior to pregnancy experienced higher peripartum psychopathological symptoms. All symptoms linearly decreased during pregnancy (ß=-0.02 to ß=-0.07 per month). Somatization (ß=-0.46) was lower, whereas paranoid ideation (ß=0.26) and obsession-compulsion (ß=0.21) were higher after delivery than during pregnancy. Though, obsession-compulsion linearly decreased after delivery (ß=-0.02). Lifetime anxiety disorders prior to pregnancy interacted with linear changes in anxiety (ß=-0.04) and phobic anxiety (ß=-0.05) during pregnancy. That is, only women with, but not without anxiety disorders prior to pregnancy experienced a linear decline in anxiety and phobic anxiety during pregnancy. LIMITATIONS: Lifetime anxiety and depressive disorders were assessed in early pregnancy and might be biased. CONCLUSIONS: Peripartum psychopathological symptoms are higher in women with versus without lifetime anxiety and depressive disorders prior to pregnancy, but symptom changes only slightly vary by lifetime diagnostic status.
