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Postpartum depression nearly triples infant mortality risk in NJ study

By Drooid · Sep 23, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

Rutgers researchers found postpartum depressive symptoms nearly triple infant mortality risk.
Infants of mothers scoring >=10 had 7.2 deaths per 1,000 births, versus 2.0 without symptoms.
Adjusted analysis showed a relative risk of 2.89 for infant death.
Risk rose over fourfold for prematurity deaths and nearly fivefold for perinatal deaths.
The study analyzed 414,890 New Jersey singleton births from 2016-2020 and was published in JAMA Network Open 2026.

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Story summary

Rutgers researchers found postpartum depressive symptoms nearly triple infant mortality risk.
Infants of mothers scoring >=10 had 7.2 deaths per 1,000 births, versus 2.0 without symptoms.
Adjusted analysis showed a relative risk of 2.89 for infant death.
Risk rose over fourfold for prematurity deaths and nearly fivefold for perinatal deaths.
The study analyzed 414,890 New Jersey singleton births from 2016-2020 and was published in JAMA Network Open 2026.