Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Predictors of response to antidepressants in women with postpartum depression: a systematic review

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Archives of Women's Mental Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Antidepressants are the mainstay of drug treatment for moderate or severe postpartum depression. Knowledge of predictors of response could help optimize treatment and reduce the adverse consequences of postpartum depression. The purpose of this systematic review was to ascertain predictors of response or remission to antidepressant treatment in women with postpartum depression. The electronic databases of MEDLINE/PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Evidence-based Medicine Reviews were searched through December 2019. The search was limited to studies published in the English language. Reference lists of articles that met the inclusion criteria were also searched. We identified some predictors of response and remission that could potentially assist in the optimization of drug treatment of postpartum depression; however, caution is needed to apply these findings in clinical practice due to the heterogeneous nature of postpartum depression. The results of our review highlight the urgent need to identify predictors of response, non-response, or remission to antidepressants in women with postpartum depression.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

Not applicable.

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Verinder Sharma.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The first author reports personal fees from the Neuroscience Education Institute and grants from Assurex, Genome Canada, Sage Therapeutics, Stanley Medical Research Institute, and Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, and participation on the advisory boards for Sunovion Pharmaceuticals and Otsuka, outside the submitted work. All other authors declare no conflict of interest.

Code availability

Not applicable.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sharma, V., Khan, M., Baczynski, C. et al. Predictors of response to antidepressants in women with postpartum depression: a systematic review. Arch Womens Ment Health 23, 613–623 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-020-01044-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-020-01044-w

Keywords

Navigation