New Delhi: A mobile app can help predict whether a pregnant woman will have depression in the later stages of pregnancy, according to new research.
By asking women to respond to surveys during their first trimester, researchers identified various risk factors for developing depression, including sleep quality and food insecurity.
"We can ask people short questions and get a good sense of whether they will be depressed or not," said lead author Tamar Krishnamurthy, associate professor of general internal medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in the US.
"Surprisingly, a lot of the risk factors for future depression are things that can be modified – such as sleep quality, concerns about labor and delivery and, importantly, access to food – meaning That we can and should do something about them,” he said. Krishnamurthy.
Identifying women vulnerable to depression in the early stages of pregnancy could help with preventive care and help address underlying causes, the researchers said.For the study, researchers analyzed survey responses from 944 pregnant women who had used the app as part of a larger study and did not have a history of depression.
In their first trimester of pregnancy, the women answered questions about demographics and their medical history, as well as feelings of stress and sadness.
Some of the 944 women also answered optional questions on social factors related to their health, such as food insecurity. All women were screened for depression once in each trimester.
The researchers developed six machine-learning models using all the data.The best one was found to be 89 percent accurate in predicting depression in a pregnant woman. Machine learning algorithms are a form of artificial intelligence that learn from past data to make predictions.
When researchers included answers to alternative questions on social factors related to health, the model's accuracy increased to 93 percent.
They found that food insecurity, or access to food, has emerged as a significant risk factor for pregnant women to develop depression in the later stages of pregnancy.
Researchers are now developing ways to integrate these survey questions into clinical settings and identifying how physicians can have these conversations with patients about their risk for depression.
By asking women to respond to surveys during their first trimester, researchers identified various risk factors for developing depression, including sleep quality and food insecurity.
"We can ask people short questions and get a good sense of whether they will be depressed or not," said lead author Tamar Krishnamurthy, associate professor of general internal medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in the US.
"Surprisingly, a lot of the risk factors for future depression are things that can be modified – such as sleep quality, concerns about labor and delivery and, importantly, access to food – meaning That we can and should do something about them,” he said. Krishnamurthy.
Identifying women vulnerable to depression in the early stages of pregnancy could help with preventive care and help address underlying causes, the researchers said.For the study, researchers analyzed survey responses from 944 pregnant women who had used the app as part of a larger study and did not have a history of depression.
In their first trimester of pregnancy, the women answered questions about demographics and their medical history, as well as feelings of stress and sadness.
Some of the 944 women also answered optional questions on social factors related to their health, such as food insecurity. All women were screened for depression once in each trimester.
The researchers developed six machine-learning models using all the data.The best one was found to be 89 percent accurate in predicting depression in a pregnant woman. Machine learning algorithms are a form of artificial intelligence that learn from past data to make predictions.
When researchers included answers to alternative questions on social factors related to health, the model's accuracy increased to 93 percent.
They found that food insecurity, or access to food, has emerged as a significant risk factor for pregnant women to develop depression in the later stages of pregnancy.
Researchers are now developing ways to integrate these survey questions into clinical settings and identifying how physicians can have these conversations with patients about their risk for depression.
