Effect of mindfulness meditation on depression during pregnancy: A meta-analysis

Mindfulness meditation reduces depression during pregnancy. A meta-analysis of 10 randomized controlled trials with 658 participants found a positive effect (standardized mean difference = −0.786). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was the most effective intervention. The best results came from programs lasting less than 4 weeks, applied throughout pregnancy, with expert guidance fewer than 6 times per week for sessions under 60 minutes, plus daily 30-minute homework. High heterogeneity across studies was partly due to different depression measurement tools, notably the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Mindfulness meditation can help prevent and reduce pregnancy depression and may serve as an auxiliary clinical treatment.

Study at a glance

Abstract

PurposeThis study systematically evaluates the effect of mindfulness meditation on depression during pregnancy. We provide evidence-based suggestions for preventing and reducing depression during pregnancy by exploring the most effective intervention mode, cycle, and frequency of mindfulness meditation.MethodsRecords were retrieved from PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO, and Science Direct. A total of 1,612 randomized controlled trial studies on the effect of mindfulness meditation on pregnancy depression were collected. 10 studies with 658 subjects meeting the inclusion criteria were extracted and analyzed by Revman 5.3 to evaluate study qualities. Stata 12.0 was used for the meta-analysis.ResultsMindfulness meditation had a positive effect on depression during pregnancy [standardized difference of the mean (SMD) = −0.786, 95% confidence interval (−1.289, −0.283), P < 0.001]. Subgroup analysis showed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) had the best intervention effect on depression during pregnancy (SMD = 2.795), the best intervention duration was below 4 weeks (SMD = 1.756), applied from the first to the third stage of pregnancy (SMD = 1.024), the frequency guided by experts was less than six times a week (SMD = 2.055) of <60 min each time (SMD = 1.068), and completing homework by themselves every day for 30 mins (SMD = 1.822) was most significant for the improvement of depression during pregnancy. We found high heterogeneity across studies [q = 97.003, DF = 10, I2 = 88.0% (P < 0.001), I2 > 75%]. This may be caused by variance in measurement tools, among which Beck Depression Inventory-II was a significant source of heterogeneity.ConclusionMindfulness meditation can improve the prevention, remission, and reduction of depression during pregnancy and can be used as an auxiliary measure for the clinical treatment of pregnancy depression.