High Worry in Pregnancy, Neuroactive Steroid Dysregulation, and Postpartum Depression

Abstract

Worry has been identified as a key component of anxiety in pregnant and postpartum women, and our group has previously shown that women who are high worriers in pregnancy are nearly four times as likely to develop postpartum depression as those who are average or low worriers. Biological correlates of high worry in pregnancy are unknown, and we sought to examine whether levels of progesterone and two of its metabolites were related to high worry in pregnancy.