The impact of sleep, stress, and depression on postpartum weight retention: A systematic review
Open accessAbstract
Objective To review the impact of sleep, stress, and/or depression on postpartum weight retention.Methods We searched three electronic databases, PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and PsycInfo. Studies were included if they were published between January 1990 and September 2013 in English, measured sleep, stress, and/or depression in the postpartum period, and assessed the association of these factors with postpartum weight retention. Two reviewers reviewed included articles and rated study quality using a modified version of the Downs and Black scale.Results Thirteen studies met our pre-defined eligibility criteria, reporting on 9 study samples. Two were cross-sectional studies and eleven were longitudinal studies. The study sample size ranged from 74 to 37,127. All four studies examining short sleep duration and postpartum weight retention reported a positive association. The four studies examining postpartum stress and weight retention reported non-significant associations only. Of 7 studies examining postpartum depression and weight retention, 3 reported non-significant associations, and 4 reported positive associations.Conclusion Research investigating the impact of postpartum sleep, stress, depression on weight retention is limited. Future longitudinal studies are needed.
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Other nonsystematic and systematic reviews have explored specific maternal risks when mothers' PPD is untreated, including more weight problems, alcohol and illicit drug use, social relationship problems, breastfeeding problems, or persistent depression compared with women who have received treatment.
“Other nonsystematic and systematic reviews have also explored specific maternal risks when mothers’ PPD is untreated, including more weight problems,18,19 alcohol and illicit drug use,20 social relationship problems,21 breastfeeding problems,22 or persistent depression23 compared with women who have received treatment.”
From Consequences of maternal postpartum depression: A systematic review of maternal and infant outcomes (2019) · cites this paper as [18]
The Results section (Postpartum depression; page unavailable) reports that some studies found an association between postpartum depression and weight retention, while others found no significant association. This supports the weight-problems portion linked to this citation, but the review does not compare untreated mothers with mothers who received treatment. The other listed risks are attached to other citations. (LLM, conf=0.87)
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- [49]Montgomery-Downs HE Insana SP Clegg-Kraynok MM Mancini LM Normative longitudinal maternal sleep: the first 4 postpartum months. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2010 203 465 e1 e7 doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2010.06.057 20719289 PMC2975741 · DOI
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Xiao, R. S., Kroll-Desrosiers, A. R., Goldberg, R. J., Pagoto, S. L., Person, S. D., & Waring, M. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Psychosomatic Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-11
- Volume
- 77
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 351-358
- ISSN
- 0022-3999 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4252881
- OpenAlex
- W1968513508
- Cited by
- 62
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 0.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Psychosomatic Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- eScholarship@UMassChan (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- NIH (UL1TR000161, 1U01HL105268, R01HL35434, KL2TR000160)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare
- Keywords
- postpartum weight retention, sleep duration, postpartum stress, postpartum depression, postpartum period, gestational weight gain
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Depression, Female, Humans, Sleep, Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Postpartum Period, Overweight
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