Depressive and anxiety symptoms largely fade after birth in Tanzanian adolescent mothers, study finds

Adolescent mothers in Mwanza, Tanzania, who screened positive for depressive or generalized anxiety symptoms during pregnancy saw those symptoms largely disappear by three months after delivery, according to a longitudinal observational study embedded within a non-pharmacological intervention cohort. More than 97 percent of participants who screened positive at the initial assessment reported remission of both depressive and anxiety symptoms at the three-month postpartum follow-up.

The study followed 533 pregnant adolescents enrolled during their second trimester from selected antenatal care clinics in Mwanza between 5 August 2023 and 30 June 2024. Participants were recruited using a convenience sampling approach, and the cohort took part in a non-pharmacological intervention as part of the study design.

Researchers assessed depressive symptoms with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and generalized anxiety symptoms with the Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7 (GAD-7) scale. Measurements were taken at four time points: the second trimester, the third trimester, four weeks postpartum, and three months postpartum. Only participants who screened positive for depressive and/or anxiety symptoms at the initial second-trimester assessment were followed longitudinally through to three months after delivery.

The trajectory of symptoms was dynamic rather than static. Approximately one-third of the adolescent mothers who screened positive for depressive or anxiety symptoms in the second trimester continued to report symptoms in the third trimester, indicating moderate persistence of symptoms during pregnancy itself.

After birth, however, the picture changed dramatically. Remission rates were high in the postpartum period, with more than 97 percent of those who had screened positive at the first assessment reporting remission at three months post-delivery. The authors characterize this as marked remission following the moderate persistence observed during pregnancy.

The research team notes that literature on the persistence and remission of depressive and anxiety symptoms during pregnancy is sparse, and that, to their knowledge, no previous studies had examined these symptom trajectories specifically among adolescent mothers. Psychosocial risk and protective factors associated with these trajectories also remain largely underexplored, which motivated the longitudinal design of this cohort study.

Because the cohort was embedded within a non-pharmacological intervention, the reported trajectories describe participants who received that intervention, and the abstract does not report a comparison group or isolate the intervention’s contribution to the observed remission. The convenience sampling approach also means the enrolled participants were drawn from selected antenatal care clinics rather than a random population sample, so the findings describe this cohort in Mwanza rather than adolescent mothers generally.

Based on their results, the authors argue that maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms in adolescent mothers are dynamic, and they conclude that routine mental health screening should be integrated alongside sustained psychosocial interventions into antenatal and postnatal care.

The study adds to a small evidence base on perinatal mental health in adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, a population the authors identify as understudied.

Subject of Research: Persistence and remission of depressive and generalized anxiety symptoms among pregnant adolescents and adolescent mothers in Mwanza, Tanzania

Article Title: Persistence and remission of depressive and generalized anxiety symptoms among adolescent mothers in Mwanza, Tanzania: a longitudinal observational study embedded within a non-pharmacological intervention cohort

Article References: Mwita, M., Dewey, D., Konje, E. T., & Patten, S. (2026). Persistence and remission of depressive and generalized anxiety symptoms among adolescent mothers in Mwanza, Tanzania: a longitudinal observational study embedded within a non-pharmacological intervention cohort. Frontiers in Global Women's Health, 7, 1814117. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2026.1814117

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/fgwh.2026.1814117

Keywords: adolescent pregnancy, depression, anxiety, perinatal mental health, postpartum remission, EPDS, GAD-7, Tanzania, longitudinal study, antenatal care, psychosocial intervention, low-resource settings