The most common complication of motherhood
Postpartum depression affects approximately one in eight women. It often occurs in the weeks after birth, when hormones – estrogen and progesterone – suddenly decrease.
For some, this hormonal descent causes a real emotional collapse: anxiety, discouragement, feeling of unreality. And still too often women hesitate to talk about it for fear of being judged or being seen as “bad mothers”.
But a team of American researchers thinks they have found a way to anticipate this risk even before birth.
A biological fingerprint in the blood
The myLuma test, developed by the American start-up Dionysus Healthin collaboration with psychiatrists Jennifer Payne (University of Virginia) and Zachary Kaminsky, it may soon make it possible to detect the risk of postpartum depression from a simple blood test.
Concretely, identifies biological traces in the blood linked to hormones and the functioning of genes which seem to distinguish the women most vulnerable to this disorder.
According to researchers, this test predicts the risk of postpartum depression with greater than 80% reliability, an accuracy comparable to some medical screenings already used during pregnancy.
The test should be offered as early as 2026 in several American states (Florida, Texas and California). It has not yet received official approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but doctors will already be able to use it to better support women at risk starting from the prenatal period.
“It’s not in the head, it’s in the body”
Although the democratization of this test in France is still far away, hopes for an effective response to postpartum depression have been revived. For the psychiatrist Jennifer Paynethis progress could raise an immense taboo:
“If we do a blood test, we lower psychiatry to the level of biology – something that everyone can understand as a real disease, not just in the head.”
Concretely, this screening would allow us to do soanticipate treatment : enhanced psychological monitoring, social support, even preventative treatment. Enough to prevent depression from setting in in the first weeks of motherhood.
A new horizon for young mothers
After the marketing of the brexanolone (2019) and its oral version, the zuranolone (2023) – the first drugs specifically designed for this disorder – the myLuma trial leads the way preventive medicine.
For healthcare workers, this approach represents real hope in the face of an often minimized problem. Because postpartum depression is not just “baby blues” that passes on its own: it can profoundly alter the mother-child bond, affect the entire family and, in the most serious cases, jeopardize the mother’s life.
In France, suicide is the leading cause of maternal mortality up to one year after the end of pregnancy.
A gentle but essential revolution
Beyond scientific innovation, this discovery is part of a cultural change: recognizing postpartum depression as a pathology in its own right, which deserves prevention and treatment in the same way as any other disease.
If the results are confirmed, this test could become a fundamental tool to better understand, and finally anticipate, this period of vulnerability that many young mothers go through.
Meanwhile, specialists insist: talking, asking for help and not feeling guilty remain the first steps for prevention. Because motherhood should never rhyme with isolation or silence.
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Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
