Lessons learned from PPD research include:
- Including women who are breast-feeding is important because many women choose to breast-feed and suffer from PPD. Because antidepressant use during breast-feeding has been closely studied, it is appropriate to include potential research participants who are breast-feeding as long as they receive adequate information and are able to provide informed consent.
- Participants in PPD studies may require accommodations that take into account their role as a new mother, such as on-site childcare, home visits, or other strategies.
- Because of recruitment challenges in postpartum patients, multisite trials may be required to include adequate numbers of participants.
Related Resource
- Freeman MP, Joffe H, Cohen LS. Postpartum depression: Help patients find the right treatment. Current Psychiatry. 2012;11(11):14-21.
Drug Brand Names
- Citalopram • Celexa
- Escitalopram • Lexapro
Disclosures
Dr. Freeman has received grant or research support from Eli Lilly and Company, Forest Laboratories, and GlaxoSmithKline, is on the advisory boards of Otsuka and Takeda/Lundbeck, and is a consultant for PamLab LLC.
Dr. Joffe has received grant or research support from Cephalon/Teva, and is a consultant to Noven and Sunovion.
Dr. Cohen has received research support from AstraZeneca, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Forest Laboratories, GlaxoSmithKline, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Ortho-McNeil Janssen, and Pfizer and has served on an advisory board for PamLab LLC.
This study was funded as an investigator-initiated trial by Forest Pharmaceuticals.