Postpartum Anxiety, Depression Not Up After Pandemic Onset, but Benzodiazepine Rx Increased

No increase observed in diagnoses following onset of COVID-19, but increase seen in proportion of women filling benzodiazepine prescription

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Sept. 17, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Among privately insured women, diagnoses of postpartum anxiety and depression did not increase following onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there was an increase in the proportion of women filling a benzodiazepine prescription, according to a study published online June 24 in the Archives of Women’s Mental Health.

Grace Bagwell Adams, Ph.D., from the University of Georgia in Athens, and colleagues used a retrospective pooled cross-sectional study involving privately insured postpartum women in U.S. claims data from Jan. 1, 2016, to Dec. 31, 2020, to assess trends in diagnosis and treatment of postpartum mood disorders. Changes in diagnoses of anxiety and depression were measured, as were changes in prescription fills and days of supplied classes of medications used to treat these conditions.

The researchers found that diagnoses of depression and anxiety were not significantly higher among privately insured women in the United States following onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. There was a 15.2 percent increase in the proportion of privately insured postpartum women filling a benzodiazepine prescription.

“Given the prevalence of perinatal and postpartum mood disorders and the effects of such disorders on the short and long-term health of the mother, it is critical to understand both diagnosis and prescribing patterns for this population,” the authors write. “Future research should examine whether these trends of increased prescription fills of benzodiazepines are sustained beyond the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as seek to understand the mechanisms at work to explain these increases.”