Study: Docs, moms skip depression talk
Published: Fri, Jun. 01, 2007 12:30AM
Modified Fri, Jun. 01, 2007 03:24AM
E-Mail
Print
tool name
closeThe majority of doctors in North Carolina do not probe for signs of postpartum depression in new mothers, according to a survey conducted by researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Of the 228 physicians responding to the survey who said they had seen women for postpartum visits in the previous three months, 79 percent said they were unlikely to formally screen the patients for depression. An estimated 13 percent of new mothers are affected by postpartum depression. The study will be published June 6 in the North Carolina Medical Journal.
"We believe that it is very important that physicians work some type of depression screening into postpartum visits," said Betsy Sleath, lead author of the study and a professor in UNC's School of Pharmacy.
More Orange County
"And perhaps even more important, women shouldn't be afraid or embarrassed to raise this issue with their doctor. We're expected by society to be happy when we have a child, so sometimes it's hard to talk about the fact that women feel sad, or that it's hard being a new mother," Sleath said.
Get it all with convenient home delivery of The News & Observer.
The News & Observer is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impracticable for our staff to monitor each and every posting.
Since The News & Observer does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not The News and Observer.
If you find a comment offensive, clicking on the exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators, we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.
