title: Efficacy of yoga for depressed postpartum women: A randomized controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Up to 20% of women experience postpartum depression (PPD). PPD is associated with anxiety and poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Efficacious treatments are critical; many women with PPD prefer complementary therapies. Thus, the current study examined yoga as a complementary therapy for PPD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-seven postpartum women with scores ≥12 on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale were randomly assigned to a yoga (N = 28) or wait-list control (N = 29) group. The yoga intervention consisted of 16 classes over 8 weeks. Outcomes were depression, anxiety, and HRQOL.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The yoga group experienced significantly greater rate of improvement in depression, anxiety, and HRQOL, relative to the control group with moderate to large effects. Reliable Change Index analyses revealed that 78% of women in the yoga group experienced clinically significant change.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings support yoga as a promising complementary therapy for PPD, and warrant large-scale replication studies.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  http://clinicaltrials.gov/NCT02213601.
authors.affiliation: VA Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health (CESAMH), VA San Diego Healthcare System, and the Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA 92161, USA. Electronic address: Melissa.Buttner@va.gov.
authors.forename: Melissa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Buttner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Brock
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: O'Hara
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stuart
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015013:Yoga; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Complementary therapy; Postpartum depression; Randomized controlled trial; Yoga