The study, which was led by Trine Munk-Olsen of the National Centre for Register-Based Research at Denmark's Arhus University and published online in Jama's Archives of General Psychiatry, looked into the cases of 120,378 women who had a history of psychiatric problems.

A significantly higher conversion rate to bipolar disorder was found among females who suffered psychosis in the first month after giving birth, particularly those who were hospitalised due to the issue.

"Results indicate that the presentation of mental illness in the early postpartum period is a marker of possible underlying bipolarity," the authors said, although they highlighted that a lot of women with new psychiatric symptoms after starting a family did not go on to develop the condition.

World Health Organization statistics reveal there is no significant difference in prevalence between the genders when it comes to bipolar disorder, but it has been reported the onset of symptoms, outcome and other factors can be influenced by sex.

Posted by Alexandra George / figo.org/news