Summary: Women are more than 10 times more likely to develop a postpartum psychosis if their sister has experienced the disease, according to a major study of more than 1.6 million women. This rare but serious disorder, marked by hallucinations, paranoia and disorganized reflection after childbirth, can have potentially fatal consequences if it is not treated.
The results highlight a strong family risk, especially when bipolar disorder is also present, emphasizing the need for early detection and increased awareness. Although the relative risk is high, the real risk remains low, at 1.6%, but understanding family history could allow preventive interventions and support for targeted mental health during the vulnerable postpartum period.
Key facts:
- High family risk: Having a sister suffering from postpartum psychosis raises the risk of a woman more than ten times.
- Bipolar link: The risk increases to 14x if the sister also suffers from a bipolar disorder.
- Call to Consciousness: Despite its severity, postpartum psychosis remains sub-studied and sub-diagnosed.
Source: Mount Sinai Hospital
Mount Sinai researchers have noted for the first time that a woman is more than 10 times more likely to develop a postpartum psychosis if her sister had known the condition compared to a woman with a sister who did not do it.
The results, which were published on May 19 in the American Journal of Psychiatry And underlined during the annual press conference of the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association the same day, suggest genetic and shared environmental influences.
Postpartum psychosis is a rare but serious mental illness that leaves a devastating impact on mothers in vulnerable weeks and months after childbirth. It has an increased risk of suicide and infanticide if it is not treated.
Among the signs of early alert of postpartum psychosis are serious mood swings, hallucinations, disorganized thought, insomnia, paranoia and self-harm thoughts.
Despite the devastating ramifications of the disorder, it remains largely sub-studied and a challenge for doctors to diagnose and treat.
“Each woman of child procure and their doctors must know the existence, gravity, the symptoms and the family risk of postpartum psychosis so that it can be quickly diagnosed and, hope, prevented it,” said Veerle Bergink, MD, PHD, director of the Mental Health of Women in Mount Sinai and co-sensible author of the newspaper.
“Currently, too many women at higher risks do not know it and are left alone with a new baby and no support. We hope that these results of the study will help move the needle and transmit the change.
“With a broader recognition of this particular condition and risk factors for this, we can implement changes to facilitate the burden of women during this postpartum period.”
The Mount Sinai study team examined the files of more than 1.6 million women from the Swedish registers nationally, identifying 2,514 women who had experienced a postpartum psychosis within three months of their first delivery.
In addition to finding that a woman is more than 10 times more likely to develop a postpartum psychosis if her sister had the disease, the study of the Swedish register has shown that the presence of bipolar disorder in a sister doubles the risk of the woman to develop a postpartum psychosis.
Women with a sister suffering from bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis have proved to be the most at risk; Their risk of developing postpartum psychosis themselves is 14 times increased.
The study measured a recurring risk relative for disorder, which implies an increased probability of its appearance in another family member. This differs from the real risk, which refers to the probability of developing the condition.
The researchers learned that although the relative risk of postpartum psychosis is quite high in complete brothers and sisters, the absolute risk for women with an affected sister is still low at 1.6%.
“These results support the idea that even if there is overlap between postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder, these are in fact separate conditions,” said Dr. Bergink.
“We hope that these new data will help move the needle and make a change. With broader recognition of this particular condition and risk factors for IT, measures can and must be taken to help mitigate the load of women during this postpartum period. “
Beyond raising awareness of postpartum psychosis, this study provides a solid basis for the next stage of research, aimed at recognizing and with early prevention.
Work that involves identifying the genes responsible for this disease is already underway at Mont Sinai in the laboratory of Behrang Mahjani, PHD, deputy professor of psychiatry at the Icahn Medicine School of Mont Sinai and co-author of the study.
“We use complex molecular data to study the genetic architecture of the disease,” explains Dr. Mahjani.
“Knowing which specific genes are involved will help us to dive into the mechanisms and triggers of postpartum psychosis, and if they are hormones or immune.
About this postpartum psychosis and news of genetics research
Author: Elizabeth Dowling
Source: Mount Sinai Hospital
Contact: Elizabeth Dowling – Mont Sinai Hospital
Picture: The image is credited with Neuroscience News
Original search: Open access.
“Family risk of postpartum psychosis” by Veerle Bergink. American Journal of Psychiatry
Abstract
Family risk of postpartum psychosis
Objective:
Postpartum psychosis is one of the most serious psychiatric conditions, with high risks of suicide and infanticide if they are not treated. Although genetic factors contribute to the risk of postpartum psychosis, the extent of family risk remains to be determined.
The authors compared the risk of relative recurrence through different types of family relationships, assuming that the relative risk of recurrence of postpartum psychosis varies according to genetic kinship and is higher in full brothers and sisters than in cousins.
Methods:
This cohort study was made up of 1,648,759 women from the Swedish registers nationally, including 2,514 (0.15%) experienced postpartum psychosis within 3 months of their very first delivery. The authors estimated the risk of relative recurrence of postpartum psychosis for full brothers and sisters and cousins as a family risk measure.
Results:
The risk of relative recurrence of postpartum psychosis among complete brothers and sisters was 10.69 (95% CI = 6.60, 16.26) when it was adjusted for the year and age to childbirth. Although cousins have shown a high relative recurrence risk of recurrence, these results did not reach statistical service (1.78, 95% CI = 0.70, 3.62).
Despite the higher family risk of postpartum psychosis among the full brothers and sisters, the absolute risk for women with an affected brother was relatively low, estimated at 1.60% in the entire population.
Conclusions:
The increased risk observed in postpartum psychosis among the full brothers and sisters suggests environmental influences that are both genetic and shared. However, the lack of significant results in cousins hinders a more precise distinction between these factors.
In addition, despite the increase in the risk of relative recurrence in brothers and sisters, their global probability of developing a postpartum psychosis remains low.
This study highlights the need for more in-depth research to better understand the complex interaction of genetics and the shared environment in the development of postpartum psychosis.
