För att citera Wikipedian så är Postpartumdepression eller förlossningsdepression är en depression som kan drabba nyblivna mödrar en kort tid efter förlossning. Depressionsformen är allvarlig, eftersom den förutom moderns egna besvär orsakar relationsproblem med spädbarnet under den första, viktiga tiden i livet.
Det anses allmänt att den bakomliggande orsaken är genetisk. Men hur ska man bevisa det? Pam Belluck skriver i New York Times om att man hoppas kunna ta hjälp av en iPHoneapp: Hunting the Genetic Signs of Postpartum Depression With an iPhone App
With mothers and medical providers clamoring for answers about postpartum depression, scientists are beginning a major effort to understand the genetic underpinnings of mood disorders that afflict millions of women during and after pregnancy.
Researchers led by a University of North Carolina team will use a new iPhone app to recruit women who have had postpartum depression. The goal is to collect about 100,000 DNA samples and compare them with DNA from women who have never experienced depression in hopes of discovering genetic factors that could lead to better prediction, diagnosis and treatment for maternal mental illness.
Attempts to find clear genetic clues to depression in the general population have yielded few results so far, and some experts questioned whether the new effort, announced Monday, would be any more promising. But the team’s theory is that postpartum depression may be distinct, involving genes with more identifiable effects because they act during or soon after pregnancy.
“From a genetic standpoint, this is the right time biologically to do this,” said Dr. Patrick F. Sullivan, director of the University of North Carolina’s Center for Psychiatric Genomics, who will lead the project’s genetic analysis.
En enkel app som dock visar hur man kan använda enkel mobilteknologi för att lösa allvarliga sjukvårdsfrågor.
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