Hormone may predict postpartum depression - U.S. study

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Spiking and sinking levels of a hormone that prepares a pregnant woman for the strain of childbirth may hold the key to why some women suffer postpartum depression, researchers said on Monday.

In a study of 100 women, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found 12 out of 16 women who had postpartum depression also had high levels of a hormone circulating in the placenta midway through pregnancy.