TAMPA, Fla. — A new report from the American Heart Association says new and expecting moms should be screened for depression and anxiety.
The report underscores that mental health issues can cause long term heart issues.
The American Heart Association is urging hospitals and health care providers to screen for depression and anxiety during and up to one year after pregnancy.
To get more perspective on this, ABC Action News spoke with Dr. Garima Sharma, Director of Cardio-Obstetrics and Director of Cardiovascular Women’s Health at Inova Health System. She is also the American Heart Association Writing Group Chair.
“The biggest take home is that maternal cardiovascular health needs to be redefined to actually include psychological health and if you want to make the best impact on the patient’s outcome with a holistic approach mental health has to be included in that because it has a very significant impact,” said Dr. Garima Sharma.
According to the AHA, cardiovascular issues are the number one cause of maternal death.
They hope finding and treating the risk factors of conditions like depression and anxiety during pregnancy and postpartum will improve health outcomes for mother and child in the short and long term.
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