Browsing by Author "Linnoinen, Maaria"

Objectives. Perinatal risk factors, e.g. low birth weight, can increase risk for depression. Whether perinatal risks are linked to received treatment and rehabilitation of depression and cognitive deficits in depression is largely unknown. The aim of the study was to examine the use of antidepressants, received rehabilitative psychotherapy and cognition among adults with lifetime depressive symptoms by comparing whether they differ in the perinatal risk group and in the control group. Methods. The study is part of a longitudinal birth cohort research project examining long-term ef-fects of perinatal risk factors. The present sample included 67 adults with perinatal risk factors and 20 control adults. All of the participants (n = 87) had experienced lifetime depressive symptoms. Lifetime depressive symptoms were assessed by lifetime depression and/or current depressive symptoms (DEPS ≥ 9). The use of antidepressants and received rehabilitative psychotherapy were compared between groups by χ2-tests. Cognition was assessed with several neuropsychological tests and compared between groups by t-tests. The effects of the most prevalent perinatal risk fac-tors and education on cognition was controlled by separate analyses of variance. Results and conclusions. The use of antidepressants was indicatively more prevalent in the perinatal risk group, although no statistically significant difference was observed. No difference between groups was found in received rehabilitative psychotherapy. Processing speed and visual perceptual performance was significantly poorer in the perinatal risk group compared to the control group. Low birth weight was linked to poorer cognitive performance in the perinatal risk group. Furthermore, lower level of education in the perinatal risk group explained difference in cognitive performance. The results suggest that perinatal risk factor may be linked to more prevalent use of antidepressants, which may reflect more severe lifetime depressive symptoms compared to controls. Perinatal risk factors do not seem to be linked to received rehabilitative psychotherapy and cognitive performance among adults with lifetime depressive symptoms.