Episode summary
Predicting Risk of Postpartum Depression | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec · Guests: Lauren Osborne
Summary
Postpartum depression is presented as a common but underrecognized condition, affecting about 15% to 20% of women in countries like the U.S. Lauren Osborne says the problem is not a lack of effective treatment, but that too few mothers are identified and connected to care. She argues that the field is still behind on women’s health research and that postpartum depression remains underdiagnosed, with only about 3% of affected women treated to remission.
Osborne says multiple forces shape both family formation and postpartum mental health, including financial uncertainty, lack of paid parental leave, and the strain of newborn care. She notes that sleep deprivation is a major contributor and that support from non-birth partners can make a real difference. She also says postpartum depression can affect partners too, making recovery a two-person issue.
The episode focuses on whether better prediction could improve outcomes. Osborne says researchers are studying biological markers, including blood-based measures tied to neuroactive steroids, because a reliable test could help target resources to the women most at risk. She says evidence-based therapies already exist, including psychotherapy, antidepressants, and newer hormonal treatments, but access and screening remain the bigger gaps.
Key takeaways
- Lauren Osborne says postpartum depression affects about 15% to 20% of women in the U.S. and other industrialized countries, but only about 3% are treated to remission.
- Osborne argues the biggest problem is not treatment availability but poor identification and access to care.
- She says financial insecurity and the lack of standard paid parental leave can deter childbearing and worsen postpartum stress.
- Osborne says sleep deprivation is a major driver of postpartum depression, and partner support can help prevent it.
- She says a blood test or similar biomarker could be a gamechanger by identifying which mothers are most at risk.
Notable quotes
“So it's surprisingly common. It's about 15 to 20% of the population in countries like the US and other industrialized countries”
“only about 3% of women with postpartum depression are actually treated to remission”
“we have good treatments. We just don't get women to the place where they need to get them”
“if we had a blood test or something that could really predict who's at risk, we'd be able to target the resources we have”
“One of the things that we know is a huge contributor to postpartum depression is sleep deprivation”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio. — It is time now for the Business Week Women's Health segment. It's where we focus on key issues and developing technologies impacting the present and future of women's health around the world.
We do welcome Dr. Lauren Osburn. She's vice chair of clinical research department of OBGYn at Wild Cornell Medicine.
She joins us from London. Dr. Osborne is a reproductive psychiatrist specializing in mental health during and after pregnancy.
Dr. Osborne, so nice to have you here with Tim and me on Bloomberg Business Week Daily. First up, I just want to do the macro if I may and your thoughts about global birth rates um here in the US.
What have you seen in your practice about what's going on and what you see as kind of some of the main reasons? Is it complications in getting pregnant? Is it older age?
What like what's what do you see from your vantage point?
You know, I think it's a variety of things that we're dealing with. Part of it is young people feeling less certain about the world and less certain about their financial futures and being more reluctant to have children. Uh part of it is being in a place where in much of the world we do have choice about whether or not to have children. I think a lot of it is financial though unfortunately.
Well, yeah. I mean I We can open up a whole discussion about like what what different governments could be doing or or should be doing in in your view to help encourage this. But I but I feel like at least in the United States, the the idea of of a dad or a mom being able to spend an extended period of time with a newborn is still a luxury.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- postpartum depression
- neuroactive steroids
- progesterone
- stress response
- clinical research
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Weill Cornell Medicine
- University of Virginia School of Medicine
Watch the episode
Watch “Predicting Risk of Postpartum Depression | Bloomberg Businessweek” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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