Year: 2022 Source: Journal of Affective Disorders. (2023). 320, 263–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.09.120 SIEC No: 20221062

Introduction
Antenatal depression and suicidal ideation represent serious pregnancy-related complications, yet comprehensive estimates of the prevalence and predictors of these diagnoses among birthing people remain unclear.
Objective
This study aimed to characterize trends in the prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation diagnoses identified among pregnant individuals prior to giving birth.
Methods
This study included 536,647 individuals aged 15–44 years continuously enrolled in a single commercial health insurance plan for one year before childbirth from 2008 to 2018. The primary outcomes included depression or suicidal ideation based on identification of the relevant ICD-9 and ICD-10 diagnosis codes during pregnancy.
Results
Rates (95 % CIs) of depression increased by 39 % from 540 (520–560) per 10,000 individuals in 2008 to 750 (730–770) per 10,000 individuals in 2018. Suicidal ideation increased by 100 % from 15 (12–18) per 10,000 individuals in 2008 to 44 (39–50) per 10,000 individuals in 2018. Black birthing people experiencing the sharpest proportional increases.
Conclusions
The prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation occurring during pregnancy substantially increased over a ten-year period. Further, suicidal ideation diagnosis increased the most for among Black birthing people compared to all groups, resulting in a need for future studies in this area to determine the reasons for an increase in diagnosis and any change in resulting treatment of follow up.