Pregnancy among women veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan appears to increase their risk for mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to a study published in Journal of Women’s Health, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The paper is available free online.

The stress associated with military service in a war zone may later contribute to an increased risk of mental health problems if a woman veteran becomes pregnant. Because the hormonal and physiological changes that accompany pregnancy can bring on or worsen various mental health conditions it is important to understand what effects military service might have on a pregnant woman’s mental health status and how that might affect pregnancy outcomes.

Kristin Mattocks, PhD, Yale University School of Medicine (New Haven, CT), and colleagues from VA Connecticut Healthcare System (West Haven, CT), Indiana University School of Medicine (Indianapolis), and UCLA School of Public Health (Los Angeles, CA), reviewed the records of more than 43,000 women veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan and completed their military service between 2001 and 2008. The authors emphasize the importance of identifying and providing appropriate diagnostic and treatment services for this at-risk population in the paper entitled, “Pregnancy and Mental Health Among Women Veterans Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.”

“With the increased number of women serving in the military, it is important that we understand their unique health issues such as mental health problems during pregnancy,” says Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women’s Health, Richmond, VA.

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Journal of Women’s Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. The Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women’s healthcare issues. Journal of Women’s Health is the Official Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA).

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Thyroid, Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, Breastfeeding Medicine, and Population Health Management. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 60 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available at out website.

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