A study has revealed that women who have general anesthesia during C-sections are more likely to experience severe postpartum depression.
The study, published in the journal Anesthesia and Analgesia, showed that women who had general anesthesia during C-sections have a higher risk of experiencing postpartum depression resulting in hospitalization, suicidal thoughts or self-harm.
The researchers from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health who conducted the study pointed out that this might be because general anesthesia can delay breastfeeding and skin-to-skin interaction between the mother and infant, and often results in more acute and persistent pain after childbirth.
Jean Guglielminotti, lead author and an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Columbia, said: "These situations are often coupled with a new mother's dissatisfaction with anesthesia in general, and can lead to negative mental health outcomes."
In the study, the researchers used hospital discharge records of cesarean delivery cases from New York state hospitals between 2006 and 2013 and found that out of the 428,304 cases they examined, 34,356 women or 8% received general anesthesia during delivery.
Results indicated that 1,158 of the women who received general anesthesia or about 3% experienced severe postpartum depression that required hospitalization.
They also discovered that 4% of these women were more likely to experience postpartum depression while 91% were more likely to have thoughts about suicide or self-harm, compared to those who had regional anesthesia such as spinal blocks or epidurals.
Guglielminotti pointed out: "We don't want people to believe that general anesthesia is always bad. It can be good in some situations, when you require an emergency C-section. What we're saying is that general anesthesia is not always good, and when it can [it should] be avoided."
She also mentioned that since the Columbia University study is the first of its kind, there needed to be more research to confirm the link between general anesthesia during cesarean deliveries and postpartum depression.
