By Joy Burkhard, MBA

We're often asked what statistic to use when describing prevalence of maternal mental health disorders. It's a great question because published statistics vary.

The most often cited stats are:

-1 in 7 (referring to the Wisner study) The published paper doesn't say 1 in 7, but Dr. Wisner has helped the field translate the numbers into the 1 in 7 reference.

-1 in 5 (referring to an earlier study from Meltzer-Brody) and this Australian study/survey.

and

-1 in 9 (recently changed from 1 in 10) from the CDC. This rate comes from self-reported Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data. Most states use this standardized survey.

Research like this study suggests, women living in poverty face rates of nearly 50%.

While there is no perfect way to reference prevalence rates, here at 2020 Mom, we say:

"Up to 1 in 5 and nearly 50% of women living in poverty will suffer from a Maternal Mental Health disorder like postpartum depression."

We also joke that in this field, we don't need to play Sudoku to keep our brains young, rather we just need to try to keep up with the moving prevalence statistics and terms being used to refer to these disorders.

Do you use a different rate? If so, let us know what you use and why by leaving a comment below.