Postpartum depression: Better remedies, and now a predictive blood test

Knowable Magazine reports on a new blood test, myLuma, predicting postpartum depression risk with over 80% accuracy, aiding early intervention.

Like many first-time mothers, Lisette Lopez-Rose thought childbirth would usher in a time of joy. Instead, she had panic attacks as she imagined that something bad was going to happen to her baby, and she felt weighed down by a sadness that wouldn’t lift. The San Francisco Bay Area mother knew her extreme emotions weren’t normal, but she was afraid to tell her obstetrician. “About two months after I started medication, I started to feel like I was coming out of a deep hole and seeing light again,” she tells Knowable Magazine. Today, Lopez-Rose works at Postpartum Support International, coordinating volunteers to help new mothers form online connections.

“About two months after I started medication, I started to feel like I was coming out of a deep hole and seeing light again.”

women go through a period of postpartum depression, making it among the most common complications of childbirth. It typically occurs in the first few weeks after delivery, when there’s a sudden drop in the reproductive hormones estrogen and progesterone. As scientists unravel chemical and genetic changes caused by those shifting hormones, they are discovering new ways to diagnose and treat postpartum depression — and even ways to identify who is at risk for it.

Postpartum depression is one of the most common complications after childbirth and often begins in the first weeks following delivery due to hormonal shifts.

Summary: A new blood test, myLuma, promises to predict postpartum depression risk with over 80% accuracy, enabling earlier intervention and treatment opportunities for new mothers.

KION Central Coast — 2025-11-20

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