Occurrence of depression in the postpartum state.

Using multiple variables of illness, comparisons were made between 17 postpartum depressives with recurrent affective disorder and 37 women with children and recurrent affective disorder but no postpartum depressions. An earlier age of onset in patients with postpartum depression was the only variable that was significantly different between groups. The occurrence of depression for the 17 subjects was significantly greater in the postpartum period than in the non-postpartum period. The postpartum depression rate for pregnancies subsequent to the initial postpartum episode was 75%.