Mood episodes in pregnancy and risk of postpartum recurrence in bipolar disorder

We have recently had the first of our publications from the Bipolar Disorder Research Network (BDRN) Prospective Pregnancy Study accepted in the Journal of Affective Disorders. 128 pregnant women with bipolar disorder very kindly contributed to the study and were followed from pregnancy through to three months postpartum. Our findings confirmed that women with bipolar disorder are at high risk of recurrence during pregnancy and the postpartum. Furthermore, over and above the risk conferred by a history of bipolar I disorder, experiencing episodes of mania and/or psychosis during pregnancy further increased risk of postpartum mania and/or psychosis in this high-risk group of women. These data may have important implications for prediction and management of severe postpartum recurrence among women with bipolar disorder. We have further publications from the BDRN Pregnancy Study planned and the study remains ongoing.

We would like to say a special thank you to all the women who have kindly taken part in our research during pregnancy.

We are still recruiting to the study. If you would like further information about taking part, please get in touch using the ‘contact us’ box on this page or by emailing us at moodresearch@worc.ac.uk