(MENAFN) Researchers at the University of Turku in Finland have found that severe morning sickness during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of depression. The study revealed that women experiencing intense pregnancy-related nausea were more likely to suffer from depression both before and after giving birth, and they developed postpartum depression earlier than those without severe symptoms.

Analyzing data from over 437,000 Finnish women between 2004 and 2017, the study found that 8.8% of women with severe morning sickness had pre-pregnancy depression, compared to just 1% in the control group. These women were over five times more likely to experience depression before pregnancy and about 3.5 times more likely to develop new depression after childbirth. On average, depression was diagnosed 3.3 years post-delivery in affected women, compared with 4.5 years in the control group.

Doctoral researcher Eeva Terava-Utti highlighted that “severe nausea in pregnancy is not only a physically stressful condition, but also a significant mental health risk factor,” emphasizing the need for closer collaboration between psychiatry, gynecology, and primary care.

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