Dietary supplements for preventing postnatal depression.

Study answer

What this study found

Overall, there is insufficient evidence that selenium, DHA, or EPA prevent postnatal depression, and no other dietary supplement can currently be recommended for prevention. In the selenium trial, postpartum EPDS scores were lower with selenium than placebo but did not reach statistical significance (MD −1.90, 95% CI −3.92 to 0.12; P = 0.07; 8.8 ± 5.1 vs 10.7 ± 4.4). In the omega-3 trial, neither EPA nor DHA improved postpartum BDI scores versus placebo (EPA MD 0.70, 95% CI −1.78 to 3.18; DHA MD −0.20, 95% CI −2.61 to 2.21), and EPA was not superior to DHA (MD 0.90, 95% CI −1.33 to 3.13).

Study & population

Systematic review of randomized trials in pregnant women or women within 6 weeks postpartum who were not depressed at trial entry.

Intervention

Selenium yeast tablets 100 µg orally once daily from the first trimester of pregnancy until delivery.

Key limitation

Evidence came from only 2 randomized trials with 167 active-arm participants total, limiting precision and generalizability.

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Original abstract