July 3, 2026

expert reaction to meta-analysis of interventions for treating antenatal depression

A meta-analysis published in Archives of Women’s Mental Health looks at interventions to treat antenatal depression. 

Prof Asma Khalil, Professor of Obstetrics and Maternal Medicine and Consultant Obstetrician, City St George’s, University of London (CSGUL), said:

“This is an important and comprehensive meta-analysis that brings together evidence from over 100 randomised trials evaluating interventions for antenatal depression. 

“The findings provide reassuring evidence that a range of interventions, including psychological therapies, lifestyle approaches and digital programmes, can reduce depressive symptoms during pregnancy.

“However, the results should be interpreted with appropriate caution. The included studies were highly heterogeneous, combining many different interventions, patient populations and outcome measures. While the overall effect was statistically significant, the magnitude of benefit was moderate and there was no clear evidence that one intervention was consistently superior to another. 

“This reinforces the importance of individualising treatment according to the woman’s clinical needs, preferences and access to care, rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.”

Prof David Curtis, Honorary Professor, UCL Genetics Institute, University College London (UCL), said:

“This analysis does not show that yoga or omega-3 supplementation are effective for depression. Many different studies were included together and for some of them women did not need to have depression, they just needed to be “at risk for depression”. Others will have had only mild symptoms but not an actual depressive illness. The studies did not need to be blinded, meaning that participants knew whether or not they were getting the test intervention. Unsurprisingly, participants who received an intervention which was supposed to help them reported on average feeling somewhat better than those who did not. But the interventions used were so disparate, including many that we would expect to be ineffective, that one cannot conclude that any specific type of intervention had any real effect at all. Depressive illness is a severe condition which needs to be properly assessed by a doctor and which should be treated using evidence-based approaches.”

‘The evidence base of interventions to treat antenatal depression:  A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials’ by Riddhi Laijawala et al. was published in Archives of Women’s Mental Health at 02:00 UK time on Friday 3 July. 

Declared interests

Prof Asma Khalil: “No relevant COI”

Prof David Curtis: “I have no conflict of interest.”