TY  - JOUR
AU  - Schnakenberg, Patricia
AU  - Hahn, Lisa
AU  - Stickel, Susanne
AU  - Stickeler, Elmar
AU  - Habel, Ute
AU  - Eickhoff, Simon B.
AU  - Chechko, Natalia
AU  - Dukart, Juergen
TI  - Examining early structural and functional brain alterations in postpartum depression through multimodal neuroimaging
JO  - Scientific reports
VL  - 11
IS  - 1
SN  - 2045-2322
CY  - [London]
PB  - Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature
M1  - FZJ-2021-02876
SP  - 13551
PY  - 2021
AB  - Postpartum depression (PPD) affects approximately 1 in 10 women after childbirth. A thorough understanding of a preexisting vulnerability to PPD will likely aid the early detection and treatment of PPD. Using a within-sample association, the study examined whether the brain's structural and functional alterations predict the onset of depression. 157 euthymic postpartum women were subjected to a multimodal MRI scan within the first 6 days of childbirth and were followed up for 12 weeks. Based on a clinical interview 12 weeks postpartum, participants were classified as mentally healthy or having either PPD or adjustment disorder (AD). Voxel-based morphometry and resting-state functional connectivity comparisons were performed between the three groups. 13.4% of women in our study developed PPD (n = 21) and 12.1% (n = 19) adjustment disorder (AD). The risk factors for PPD were a psychiatric history and the experience and severity of baby blues and the history of premenstrual syndrome. Despite the different risk profiles, no differences between the PPD, AD and control group were apparent based on structural and functional neuroimaging data immediately after childbirth. At 12 weeks postpartum, a significant association was observed between Integrated Local Correlation (LCor) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Score (EPDS). Our findings do not support the notion that the brain's structural and resting-state functional alterations, if present, can be used as an early biomarker of PPD or AD. However, effects may become apparent if continuous measures of symptom severity are chosen.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - 34193913
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000671789900004
DO  - DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-92882-w
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/893852
ER  -