Efficacy of Direct or Indirect Use of Probiotics for the Improvement of Maternal Depression during Pregnancy and in the Postnatal Period: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The mother and infant form a unique bond, with maternal mental health affecting the interactions with the infant and infant behaviours impacting maternal mental health. One of the possible mechanisms influencing maternal mental health is the manipulation of the gut-brain axis by consuming probiotic supplements. Probiotics can also have an indirect influence on maternal mental health via the modulation of the infant microbiome and consequently improving the infant’s health and thus, indirectly leading to an improvement in maternal mood. This systematic review evaluated the efficacy of probiotics on maternal mental health by searching for randomised controlled trials via international databases: Cochrane Library, PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science until January 2022. A meta-analysis was performed using the Cochrane Collaboration methodology where possible. We found seven clinical trials that included the word probiotics and addressed maternal depression and/or anxiety. Of these, five trials investigated the influence of maternal probiotic supplementation on the gut-brain axis. Two trials investigated the indirect influence of probiotics on maternal depression via supplementation of probiotics by infants and subsequent influence on the crying of colicky infants. Meta-analysis of two studies of pregnant and postnatal women and two studies of infants consuming probiotics on the outcome of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale for mothers showed no statistical difference. The findings indicate that maternal depression is very complex and is influenced by various bidirectional factors. One of the factors that can improve maternal mental health is probiotics, however, careful consideration must be given to correct strain selection as strain-specific effectiveness was observed. Further well-designed, robust clinical studies are warranted.