Depression During Pregnancy May Make Flu Worse

Filed in archive Medical Issues on November 20, 2009

Everyone knows that pregnancy alters a woman's immune system, making her (and the baby she's carrying) more vulnerable to some diseases. Now, in addition to that, a new study from Ohio State University Medical Center shows that depression during pregnancy, a very common condition, seems to make flu symptoms worse for pregnant women, underscoring the importance of getting flu shots. Watch this video:



In the flu vaccine study, 22 pregnant women completed questionnaires about their depressive symptoms and gave blood samples before receiving a seasonal flu shot. Between six and nine days later, a second round of blood samples was collected. When Dr. Christian’s team compared questionnaire responses to blood samples, they found that emotions and physical symptoms made a difference in how they responded to the vaccine, which may indicate how they would respond to a real infection. In fact, women with the highest scores on the depression scale according to the questionnaire had about twice as much of a protein in their blood called macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) which promotes inflammation in the body.

The problem is, even though doctors recommend flu shots during pregnancy, majority of pregnant women have avoided them in recent years. With the current scare with swine flu, perhaps this has changed this flu season. Pertaining to the H1N1 flu vaccination, the Center for Disease Control recommend pregnant women to receive the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine "because they are at higher risk of complications and can potentially provide protection to infants who cannot be vaccinated". If you are pregnant, do consult your doctor and make an informed decision.