Psychological screening for pregnant women helps maintain long-term health

Identifying and treating depression, anxiety and other psychological health conditions and their risk factors during pregnancy and up to a year afterward is important to ensure the health of mother and child. — Dreamstime/TNS

Cmprehensive mental health screenings should be considered an essential part of maternal cardiovascular care, a new report says.

Identifying and treating depression, anxiety and other psychological health conditions – and their risk factors – during pregnancy and up to a year afterward may improve the short- and long-term health of both mother and child, according to the American Heart Association report, which was published as a scientific statement in the Journal of the American Heart Association.