Biomarkers, Between Diagnosis and Prognosis

Perinatal Depression is a heterogeneous disorder with differences in depression timing onset, symptomology, severity and treatment efficacy. The early individuation of mental health disease in women is mandatory to prevent a long duration of untreated illness, long-term consequences on offspring’s, maternal health effects in terms of mortality and morbidity. Different biomarkers have been linked to perinatal depression, however no definitive conclusions can be done due to the several variables involved in psychiatric disorders onset but also to the different methodological methods used in the studies. The aim of this chapter is to outline the actual state of art on biomarkers in PD, although being not comprehensive of all available data in literature, in order to search for reliable biomarkers able to prevent/early detect PD and its consequences on newborns.