Aims: Hormonal changes that occur during pregnancy lead to physiological changes in
women. At the same time, pregnancy has often been associated with cognitive deficits.
Patients with depression often complain about paying attention and encounter difficulties in
learning and remembering. Studies indicate that patients with depression perform worse in
tests that require long term attention. Our aim in this study is to evaluate the changes that may
occur in sustained attention in healthy pregnant as well as depressed pregnant women.
Methods: Pregnant women who were randomly selected for the study were administered the
Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Those with high scores on the EPDS were
administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) and as a result, 25 patients
with depression were included in the study. Hamilton Depression Scale was used to measure
the severity of depressive symptoms. 25 healthy controls were matched for gender and level
of education. Neuropsychological tests were administered to participants to measure sustained
attention.
Results: It was observed that functions related to attention were affected by depression during
pregnancy.
Conclusion: Depression during pregnancy may lead to serious health problems for both
women and babies. This study indicated that cognitive functions of pregnant women were
affected by depression as well.