If you're a woman who's of childbearing age – that is, between the ages of 25 and 44 – take note. A new Kaiser Permanente study, the first integrated study of maternal depression, shows that more than one in seven women are depressed at some time during the nine months before becoming pregnant, during pregnancy or in the nine months after childbirth.

The study, which appeared in the October 2007 issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry, also found that more than half of the women who experience postpartum depression have also been depressed before becoming pregnant or during pregnancy.

"These findings show we need to pay more attention to depression before pregnancy," says Dr. Evelyn Whitlock, senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research and co-author of the study, in a press release. "Doctors and the public tend to focus more on postpartum depression because of the huge gap between a new mother's joyful expectations and the crushing reality of depression."

While postpartum depression is an important concern, "We also need to consider the mental health and treatment needs of the many women who are depressed right before or during their pregnancies," Dr. Whitlock says.

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