Abortion Does Not Increase Depression Risk

Summary: Researchers reveal, contrary to popular belief, having an abortion does not increase a woman’s risk of developing depression.

Source: University of Maryland.

Having an abortion does not increase a woman’s risk for depression, according to a new study of nearly 400,000 women published today in JAMA Psychiatry. While previous research has found abortion does not harm women’s mental health, studies claiming that it does continue to be published and state policies that restrict access to abortion in the United States have been justified by claims that abortion causes women psychological harm.

To better understand the relationship between having an abortion and women’s mental health, Dr. Julia R. Steinberg, from the University of Maryland School of Public Health, and colleagues analyzed data on Danish women born between 1980-1994. The information included abortions, childbirths and antidepressant prescriptions as recorded by the Danish National Registries. It is the first study to explore the risk of antidepressant use around an abortion as a proxy for depression.

The study concludes that the risk of antidepressant use did not change from the year before to the year after an abortion and that the risk of antidepressant use decreased as more time after the abortion elapsed.

“Policies based on the notion that abortion harms women’s mental health are misinformed,” said Dr. Steinberg, who is an assistant professor of family science. “Abortion is not causing depression. Our findings show that women were not more likely to suffer from depression after an abortion compared to beforehand.”

Compared to women who did not have an abortion, those who did have an abortion had a higher risk of antidepressant use. But Dr. Steinberg stresses this higher risk was the same for both the year before and the year after the abortion, indicating that the higher risk is not due to the abortion but to other factors such as preexisting mental health problems and other adverse experiences.

a woman laying on a bed
The study concludes that the risk of antidepressant use did not change from the year before to the year after an abortion and that the risk of antidepressant use decreased as more time after the abortion elapsed. NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, at least eight states, including North Carolina and West Virginia, mandate that women considering an abortion receive information that emphasizes the purported negative psychological effects of having an abortion. Women in 27 states are required to wait a specified period of time, from 24-72 hours, between when they receive counseling and the abortion procedure is performed, and such policies are often justified by the claim that abortion harms women’s mental health. For those in regions of the country without a nearby abortion provider, this can be a significant burden.

With an increasing number of laws being enacted throughout the United States that aim to limit women’s access to abortion, the findings from the study Examining the Association of Antidepressant Prescriptions With First Abortion and First Childbirth provide important new evidence that can inform policy. They also support the recent National Academies of Science report “The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States” which concludes that “…having an abortion does not increase women’s risk of depression, anxiety or PTSD.”

About this neuroscience research article

Source: Julia R. Steinberg – University of Maryland
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Abstract for “Examining the Association of Antidepressant Prescriptions With First Abortion and First Childbirth” by Julia R. Steinberg, PhD; Thomas M. Laursen, PhD; Nancy E. Adler, PhD; Christiane Gasse, PhD; Esben Agerbo, DrMedSc; and Trine Munk-Olsen, PhD in JAMA Psychiatry. Published May 30 2018.
doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.0849

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]University of Maryland “Abortion Does Not Increase Depression Risk.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 2 June 2018.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/depression-abortion-9216/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]University of Maryland (2018, June 2). Abortion Does Not Increase Depression Risk. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved June 2, 2018 from https://neurosciencenews.com/depression-abortion-9216/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]University of Maryland “Abortion Does Not Increase Depression Risk.” https://neurosciencenews.com/depression-abortion-9216/ (accessed June 2, 2018).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

Examining the Association of Antidepressant Prescriptions With First Abortion and First Childbirth

Importance The repercussions of abortion for mental health have been used to justify state policies that limit access to abortion in the United States. Much earlier research has relied on self-report of abortion or mental health conditions or on convenience samples. This study uses data that rely on neither.

Objective To examine whether first-trimester first abortion or first childbirth is associated with an increase in women’s initiation of a first-time prescription for an antidepressant.

Design, Setting, and Participants This study linked data and identified a cohort of women from Danish population registries who were born in Denmark between January 1, 1980, and December 30, 1994. Overall, 396 397 women were included in this study; of these women, 30 834 had a first-trimester first abortion and 85 592 had a first childbirth.

Main Outcomes and Measure First-time antidepressant prescription redemptions were determined and used as indication of an episode of depression or anxiety, and incident rate ratios (IRRs) were calculated comparing women who had an abortion vs women who did not have an abortion and women who had a childbirth vs women who did not have a childbirth.

Results Of 396 397 women whose data were analyzed, 17 294 (4.4%) had a record of at least 1 first-trimester abortion and no children, 72 052 (18.2%) had at least 1 childbirth and no abortions, 13 540 (3.4%) had at least 1 abortion and 1 childbirth, and 293 511 (74.1%) had neither an abortion nor a childbirth. A total of 59 465 (15.0%) had a record of first antidepressant use. In the basic and fully adjusted models, relative to women who had not had an abortion, women who had a first abortion had a higher risk of first-time antidepressant use. However, the fully adjusted IRRs that compared women who had an abortion with women who did not have an abortion were not statistically different in the year before the abortion (IRR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.38-1.54) and the year after the abortion (IRR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.45-1.62) (P = .10) and decreased as time from the abortion increased (1-5 years: IRR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.19-1.29; >5 years: IRR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.05-1.18). The fully adjusted IRRs that compared women who gave birth with women who did not give birth were lower in the year before childbirth (IRR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.43-0.50) compared with the year after childbirth (IRR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.88-0.98) (P < .001) and increased as time from the childbirth increased (1-5 years: IRR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.47-1.56; >5 years: IRR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.91-2.09). Across all women in the sample, the strongest risk factors associated with antidepressant use in the fully adjusted model were having a previous psychiatric contact (IRR, 3.70; 95% CI, 3.62-3.78), having previously obtained an antianxiety medication (IRR, 3.03; 95% CI, 2.99-3.10), and having previously obtained antipsychotic medication (IRR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.81-1.96).

Conclusions and Relevance Women who have abortions are more likely to use antidepressants compared with women who do not have abortions. However, additional aforementioned findings from this study support the conclusion that increased use of antidepressants is not attributable to having had an abortion but to differences in risk factors for depression. Thus, policies based on the notion that abortion harms women’s mental health may be misinformed.

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