Methyldopa as an inductor of postpartum depression and maternal blues: A review

PURPOSE: Pregnancy and time period right after labour are connected with some dangerous states, such as: pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), which afflict 6-10 % of pregnant women and mood disorders where postpartum depression occurs among 10-15 % of women after labour and so-called baby blues afflicts around 43 % of them. Scientists tried to link those diseases which afflicts thousands of women per year, and the linking factor appears to be methyldopa which is the first choice treatment of PIH. Recent study showed that 778 % of pregnant women treated with methyldopa suffered to postpartum depression. Aim of this article is to delineate mechanisms through which methyldopa induce mood disorders. METHODS: Authors reviewed following databases for randomized controlled trials and review articles published up to February 2019: Pubmed, Scopus, Google Scholar, Cochrane Database and ClinicalKey. Keywords used to research were: postpartum depression, methyldopa, depression, baby blues, pregnancy-induced hypertension, gestational hypertension, VEGF, nitric oxide, prolactin, hyperprolactinaemia. Selection of studies was based on relevance, year of publication, and reliability of methodology. Authors included every study contributory to assessment of scale of the problem of postpartum depression and baby blues, along with connection of those diseases with usage of methyldopa. RESULTS: Methyldopa alterate neurotrophic factors levels, impairs cerebral blood flow, and through dopamine level reduction it impairs reward system and increase prolactin release. Moreover, methyldopa leads to catecholamines depletion which impairs neurons function and increase concentration of nitric oxide (NO) which have neurotoxic properties. CONCLUSIONS: Epidemiological, as well as pharmacological studies confirmed important role of methyldopa in induction of postpartum depression and baby blues through hormone alteration, reduced cerebral blood flow and neurons function impairment. This study proves how important for women's health is this problem and how complex is its mechanism.