Association between neuraxial labor analgesia and postpartum depression: A meta-analysis

Labor and delivery complications, particularly pain, are important risk factors for postpartum depression (PPD). Neuraxial labor analgesia can effectively relieve labor pain; however, the association between neuraxial labor analgesia and PPD, if any, has not been established.

PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Cochrane Library were searched. The incidence of PPD was the primary outcome. The secondary outcome was the difference in postpartum Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale scores between the neuraxial labor analgesia and control groups. Subgroup analyses and post-hoc meta-regression were performed.

Nineteen studies with a total of 8758 parturients were identified. Neuraxial labor analgesia did not decrease PPD risk compared to the control group (OR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.58-1.23); however, after being stratified by PPD prevalence, neuraxial labor analgesia decreased the risk for PPD in the high prevalence (>14%) subgroup (OR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.39-0.94) and increased the risk for PPD in the low prevalence (<14%) subgroup (OR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.16-2.10) compared to the control group. Meta-regression analysis showed that the association between neuraxial labor analgesia and PPD was influenced by PPD prevalence. There was no difference in the postpartum Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale scores between the neuraxial labor analgesia and control groups (WMD = -0.11, 95% CI: -0.56-0.34).

Heterogeneity and a limited number of randomized controlled trials may bias the interpretation of the results.

Neuraxial labor analgesia had a protective effect when administered to parturients in the region with a high prevalence of PPD, but became a risk factor when administered to parturients in the region with a low prevalence of PPD.