Key Findings from Mental Health Research During the Menopause Transition for Racially and Ethnically Minoritized Women Living in the United States: A Scoping Review.

Background: Racially and ethnically minoritized (REM) women experience social and structural factors that may affect their response to mental health treatment and menopausal symptoms during the menopause transition (MT). This scoping review on mental health during the MT for REM women in the United States was conducted to characterize factors associated with mental health challenges. Materials and Methods: Five databases were searched. Articles were included if focused on MT in REM women in the United States and its territories with specific mental illnesses and published in English from 2005 to 2021. Titles and abstracts and full text were screened. Screening and data collection were completed in duplicate by two reviewers in Covidence. Results: Sixty-five articles were included and indicate that REM women experience a disproportionate burden of depressive symptoms during the MT. Less evidence is reported about anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, psychosis, schizophrenia, and other mental illnesses. The risk factors associated with mental illness during MT are social, structural, and biological. Treatment response to therapeutic interventions is often underpowered to explain REM differences. Conclusion: Depression during the MT is associated with negative outcomes that may impact REM women differentially. Incorporating theoretical frameworks (e.g., intersectionality, weathering) into mental health research will reduce the likelihood that scientists mislabel race as the cause of these inequities, when racism and intersecting systems of oppression are the root causes of differential expression of mental illness among REM women during the MT. There is a need for interdisciplinary research to advance the mental health of REM women.

Social and Structural Determinants of Health Inequities in Maternal Health.

Since the World Health Organization launched its commission on the social determinants of health (SDOH) over a decade ago, a large body of research has proven that social determinants-defined as the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age-are significant drivers of disease risk and susceptibility within clinical care and public health systems. Unfortunately, the term has lost meaning within systems of care because of misuse and lack of context. As many disparate health outcomes remain, including higher risk of maternal mortality among Black women, a deeper understanding of the SDOH-and what forces underlie their distribution-is needed. In this article, we will expand our review of social determinants of maternal health to include the terms "structural determinants of health" and "root causes of inequities" as we assess the literature on this topic. We hypothesize that the addition of structural determinants and root causes will identify racism as a cause of inequities in maternal health outcomes, as many of the social and political structures and policies in the United States were born out of racism, classism, and gender oppression. We will conclude with proposed practice and policy solutions to end inequities in maternal health outcomes.

The Potential for Health Information Technology Tools to Reduce Racial Disparities in Maternal Morbidity and Mortality.

Health information technology (health IT) potentially is a promising vital lever to address racial and ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality (MMM). This is especially relevant given that approximately 60% of maternal deaths are considered preventable.1-36 Interventions that leverage health IT tools to target the underlying drivers of disparities at the patient, clinician, and health care system levels potentially could reduce disparities in quality of care throughout the continuum (antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum) of maternity care. This article presents an overview of the research (and gaps) on the potential of health IT tools to document SDoH and community-level geocoded data in EHR-based CDS systems, minimize implicit bias, and improve adherence to clinical guidelines and coordinated care to inform multilevel (patient, clinician, system) interventions throughout the continuum of maternity care for health disparity populations impacted by MMM. Telemedicine models for improving access in rural areas and new technologies for risk assessment and disease management (e.g., regarding preeclampsia) also are discussed.

Preventing Perinatal Depression Now: A Call to Action.

In the United States, perinatal depression (PD) affects an estimated 11.5% of pregnant and postpartum individuals annually and is one of the most common complications of pregnancy and the postpartum period. Alarmingly, up to 51% of people with PD are undiagnosed. Despite the availability of tools to screen for PD, there is no consensus on which tool is most accurate, nor is there a universal policy on when and how to best screen patients with PD. Screening to identify PD is essential, but prevention of depression is even more critical, yet traditionally not well addressed until recently with the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation in 2019. When the USPSTF recommended implementing programs to prevent PD in at-risk individuals, the recommendation cited two evidence-based PD prevention programs by name. One of these, ROSE (Reach Out, Stay Strong, Essentials for mothers of newborns), is a four-session class taught in prenatal settings. The second program mentioned is the Mothers and Babies program, which has been shown to be effective in using a cognitive behavioral therapy approach to prevent PD. Although scientists develop effective mental health interventions to prevent PD, community-based advocacy groups are engaged in grassroots efforts to provide support and encouragement to racially and ethnically diverse pregnant and postpartum women. To increase the number of pregnant and postpartum women who are screened and supported so that they do not develop PD, research supports three key strategies: (1) Establish a standard combination of multicultural PD screening tools with evidence-based timepoints for screening administration. (2) Introduce an evidence-based definition of PD that accurately captures the prevalence and incidence of this mental health condition. (3) Improve our understanding of PD by incorporating the psychosocial context in which mental health complications occur into routine clinical practice for pregnant and postpartum women.