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The COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental health of pregnant and postpartum women in unique, unprecedented ways. Given the impossibility of delivering face-to-face care, digital platforms emerged as a first-line solution to provide emotional support. This qualitative study sought to examine the role that a closed Facebook group (CFG) played in providing social support for Mexican perinatal women and to explore the concerns they shared during the COVID-19 pandemic. A thematic analysis of all the posts in the CFG yielded nine main categories: (1) COVID-19 infections in participants and their families; (2) fear of infection; (3) infection prevention; (4) health services; (5) vaccines; (6) concerns about non-COVID-19-related health care; (7) effects of social isolation; (8) probable mental health cases; and (9) work outside the home. Participants faced stressful situations and demands that caused intense fear and worry. In addition to household tasks and perinatal care, they were responsible for adopting COVID-19 preventive measures and caring for infected family members. The main coping mechanism was their religious faith. The CFG was found to be a useful forum for supporting perinatal women, where they could share concerns, resolve doubts, and obtain information in a warm, compassionate, and empathetic atmosphere. Health providers would be advised to seek new social media to improve the quality of their services.

The prevalence and risk factors associated with prenatal depression among Spanish-speaking women in Spain and Mexico are examined and compared through a cross-cultural study. The study utilizes secondary data from 563 participants who received prenatal care in Madrid (N = 283) and in Mexico City (N = 280), assessed with the PHQ-9 and the PDPI-R. Spanish women reported a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms (10.0%) than Mexican women (20.3%). Regression analyses showed that previous prenatal anxiety and lack of family emotional support were common risk factors to the two countries. Within each country, significant risk factors included: (a) previous depression history (β = 0.224; p < 0.001) in Spain; and (b) unplanned pregnancy (β = - 0.116; p < 0.027), lack of emotional support from others (β = 0.129; p < 0.032), marital dissatisfaction (β = 0.186; p < 0.009), and life stress due to financial problems (β = 0.117; p < 0.026), and life stress due to marital problems (β = 0.114; p < 0.040) in Mexico. Health professionals can tailor interventions to their particular risk factors to reduce the adverse effects on mothers and infants., (© 2020. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Anxiety during pregnancy and after childbirth can have negative consequences for a woman and her baby. Despite growing interest in the perinatal mental health of Mexican women living in the U.S., perinatal anxiety symptom (PAS) rates and risk factors have yet to be established for women in Mexico. We sought to determine PAS rates and identify risk factors, including the traditional female role (TFR) in a sample of Mexican women. This secondary data analysis is based on 234 Mexican women who participated in a longitudinal study on perinatal depression in Mexico. Anxiety symptoms were assessed in pregnancy and at six weeks postpartum. Rates were determined through frequencies, and multiple logistics regressions were conducted to identify risk factors in the sample. The PAS rate was 21% in pregnancy and 18% postpartum. Stressful life events and depressive symptoms were associated with a higher probability of PAS. Adherence to TFR increased the probability of prenatal anxiety; lower educational attainment and low social support during pregnancy increased the probability of postpartum anxiety. The PAS rates were within the range reported in the literature. The TFR was only associated with anxiety in gestation, highlighting the role of this culturally relevant risk factor. Culturally responsive early interventions are therefore required.

Aim: This study explores the association between infant temperament at six months postpartum and pre- and postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms. The association between infant temperament and stressful life events is also evaluated., Method: A total of 210 Mexican women were assessed during pregnancy (gestational age 32.39 ± 4.01) and at six months postpartum. The instruments used were: Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Anxiety Subscale of the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (SCL-90R), a short form of Stressful Life Events and The Infant Characteristics Questionnaire, when infants were six months old., Results: Although a mother's emotional state during pregnancy (depressive and anxiety symptoms and stressful life events) was not associated with difficult infant temperament, it was associated with depressive and anxious symptomatology during the postpartum period. Mothers with prenatal depressive symptoms who remained depressed and mothers who only had depression symptoms during the postpartum period reported having more difficult infants. Likewise, mothers with prenatal anxiety symptoms who maintained anxiety symptoms postpartum and mothers with anxiety symptoms during the postpartum period alone reported having more difficult infants. Comorbidity was found between depressive and anxious postnatal symptomatology in its association with difficult infant temperament., Conclusion: In this study, postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms played an important role in shaping difficult infant temperament. Comorbidity between the two conditions warrants clinical attention and additional research, since it is related to maternal perception of difficult infant temperament. Psychological interventions are required, since these women may require assistance with emotional adaptation in the transition to motherhood., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the Two Whooley questions and the Arroll question, using the SCID, The Structured Clinical Interview (SCID-I) as the gold standard for detecting perinatal depression., Materials and Methods: We interviewed 210 women during pregnancy and 6 months postpartum., Results: The criterion with the greatest sensitivity was responding positively to either Whooley question (pregnancy= 94.7 %; postpartum=100.0%), while the most specific criterion was responding positively to the two Whooley questions plus the Arroll question (Pregnancy=90.0% Postpartum = 85.7%)., Conclusions: The Whooley and Arroll questions have adequate psychometric properties to detect possible cases of depression during the perinatal period. They can be applied during prenatal check-ups and postpartum consultations. Timely detection of women at risk of perinatal depression can contribute to their treatment for reducing their adverse consequences in mothers and infants., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

This study assessed the reliability and concurrent validity of the prenatal section of the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised for 250 pregnant women receiving prenatal care in Mexico. The Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised has shown adequate psychometric properties for English-speaking perinatal women, but no similar data have been reported for Spanish-speaking samples. The results show that the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised is highly reliable and exhibits adequate concurrent validity compared to the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. These findings suggest that the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised can be a reliable instrument in prenatal care services for detecting risk factors for perinatal depression in Mexican women and potentially in other Spanish-speaking populations.

Genetic data from 17 autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) loci found in the Powerplex® ESX 17 System (Promega, Madison, WI, USA) was evaluated in 162 unrelated Mexican Mestizo individuals from Mexico City. Allele frequencies and forensic parameters were estimated for the 17 STRs. All loci analyzed were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in the studied population and showed not any signs of linkage between loci. The combined power of discrimination and the power of exclusion for the 16 aSTRs studied were 1-2.56409·10 -19 and 99.999938 %, respectively. Genetic distances reveal a close relationship within different populations of Mexican Mestizos. The obtained data might be useful for population genetics research and for individual identification and paternity testing in forensic science.

Objective: To explore the relationship between individual and co-occurring childhood sexual, physical, and verbal abuse, prenatal depressive (PDS) and anxiety symptoms (PAS), and history of suicidal behavior (HSB) among Mexican pregnant women at risk of depression., Methods: A sample of 357 women screened for PDS was interviewed using the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire (CECA-Q), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), the anxiety subscale of the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (SCL-90), and specific questions on verbal abuse and HSB., Results: Logistic regression analyses showed that women who had experienced childhood sexual abuse (CSA) were 2.60 times more likely to develop PDS, 2.58 times more likely to develop PAS, and 3.71 times more likely to have HSB. Childhood physical abuse (CPA) increased the risk of PAS (odds ratio [OR] = 2.51) and HSB (OR = 2.62), while childhood verbal abuse (CVA) increased PDS (OR = 1.92). Experiencing multiple abuses increased the risk of PDS (OR = 3.01), PAS (OR = 3.73), and HSB (OR = 13.73)., Conclusions: Childhood sexual, physical, and verbal abuse, especially when they co-occur, have an impact on PDS and PAS and lifetime HSB. These findings suggest that pregnant women at risk for depression should also be screened for trauma as a risk factor for perinatal psychopathology.

This study assessed the reliability, validity, sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of the Spanish Postpartum Depression Screening Scale (PDSS-Spanish Version) for Mexican women. The scale was administered at 6 weeks (T1; n = 149) and between 4 and 6 months postpartum (T2; n = 156). Women also completed the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II) and the mood module of the Standardized Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID). At both time points, the internal consistency value of the PDSS-Spanish Version was α = .96. Concurrent validity was adequate, compared with the BDI-II (T1: r = .75; T2: r = .74, ps < .01) and the SCID (T1: r = .43; T2: r = .36, ps < .01). Based on receiver operator characteristic curves, cutoff scores on the PDSS-Spanish Version of 60 for depressive symptoms (BDI-II as gold standard) and 80 for major depression (SCID) showed high sensitivity (>88.9%) but low specificity (60.9% to 70.6%). More parsimonious values are obtained at a cutoff of 77 for subsyndromal depression and 95 for major depression. The choice for using different cutoff scores may depend on the purpose of using the instrument. Overall, the psychometric properties for the PDSS-Spanish Version in Mexican women are similar to the ones obtained in Hispanic women in the United States.

Background: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an antenatal psycho-educational intervention to prevent postpartum depression in Mexican women., Method: Pregnant women at high risk for depression were randomized to intervention or a usual care condition. Assessments of depression (SCID, BDI-II) occurred during pregnancy, 6 weeks and 4-6 months postnatally, and subjective impact of the intervention in the postpartum., Results: Of the 6484 women approached, 377 were eligible and consented to randomization (250 intervention, 127 control). Sixty-eight intervention (27.2%) and 68 (53.5%) control participants completed the three assessment periods. The cumulative incidence of major depression over three time periods was significantly lower (p<0.05) in the intervention (10.7%) than the control group (25%). Repeated-measures analysis of variance showed a significant reduction of BDI-II in both groups, but no significant treatment effect. Even when controlling for initial levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms, a treatment effect on depressive symptoms could not be confirmed, although there was a trend demonstrating that intervention participants with high initial symptoms had a larger reduction of BDI-II. Most participants that completed the intervention reported that it had a medium to great influence on their well-being, depression, current problems, role as mothers and their relationship with the baby., Limitations: Attrition was the most salient methodological problem in this study., Conclusions: This is the first randomized control depression prevention trial in high-risk pregnant Mexican women. Available data are consistent with the possibility that the incidence of depression may have been reduced by the intervention, but differential attrition makes interpretation of the findings difficult., (Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)