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What is the title of your thesis?

Postpartum Depression: Reproductive Circumstances and Heterogeneity in Clinical Presentation.

At which department and/or research unit did you complete your PhD?

Department of Clinical Research, Research Unit for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Who was your principal supervisor?

Professor at the Department of Clinical Research, Trine Munk-Olsen.

What question did you aim to answer with your thesis?

How do reproductive circumstances shape the risk of postpartum depression, and are there differences in how the condition presents itself and is measured?

What did you find?

Mothers who conceived through fertility treatment have a lower risk of postpartum depression than mothers who conceived naturally. Mothers of twins have an increased risk of postpartum depression, particularly during the first six months, compared with mothers who have only one child.

Postpartum depression does not present in the same way in all mothers; some are primarily affected by anxiety, others by feeling overwhelmed, and others by profound low mood, and the severity can vary. It also matters how postpartum depression is measured – questionnaires and register data identify almost two entirely different groups of women.

How did you do it?

The dissertation is based on epidemiological studies using Danish health registry data. Registry data were linked with questionnaire data from approximately 170,000 mothers who had been screened for postpartum depression during the health visitors’ two-month home visit screenings.

How can your research be applied (in the clinic, society, etc.)?

The findings contribute to identifying potentially vulnerable groups at risk of postpartum depression, including mothers of twins. The considerable variation in both symptom profiles and methods of identification raises questions about the need for national guidelines to ensure consistent screening, follow-up and treatment of postpartum depression in Denmark.