The months surrounding pregnancy and birth are often imagined as a uniformly happy time. For a substantial share of parents, they are also when a mental health condition first appears or sharply worsens. Depression and anxiety are among the most common complications of pregnancy and the year that follows — more common than gestational diabetes or preeclampsia — and for many families they go unrecognized and untreated.
This article tells two connected stories. The first is prevalence: how many pregnant and postpartum people experience perinatal depression, anxiety, and the broader category of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. The second is the most sobering finding in modern maternal health data — that mental health conditions, including suicide and overdose, are now the leading underlying cause of pregnancy-related death in the United States, ahead of hemorrhage and cardiac causes.
The figures below are drawn from peer-reviewed research and from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Maternal Mortality Review Committees (MMRCs), which examine pregnancy-related deaths in detail across dozens of states. For the underlying condition and population data, see our postpartum and pregnant people population pages and the depression pillar.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7.
Perinatal Depression: About 1 in 7
Perinatal depression — depression that occurs during pregnancy or within the first year after birth — affects approximately 1 in 7 people, or about 14% (peer-reviewed; StatPearls/NIH, 2025). That single figure spans two distinct windows, and prevalence estimates differ between them.
- During pregnancy, depression affects an estimated 8.5% to 11.0% of people (peer-reviewed).
- In the first year postpartum, estimates range from 6.5% to 12.9% (peer-reviewed).
These are not small numbers. A prevalence of about 1 in 7 means a large share of new and expecting parents experience a depressive episode tied to pregnancy each year. Depression during this period carries distinct risks — for the parent’s health, for bonding and caregiving, and, as the mortality data below make clear, in the most severe cases for survival itself.
There is no single national prevalence figure published by the CDC for perinatal depression as defined here; the estimates above come from the peer-reviewed literature, which is why they appear as ranges rather than one authoritative percentage. For a fuller treatment of the postpartum window specifically, see our companion analysis of postpartum depression statistics, and for national context on the condition overall, how many people have depression.
Anxiety and PMADs: Up to 1 in 5
Depression rarely travels alone. Perinatal anxiety is common and often co-occurs with depressive symptoms. Peer-reviewed research estimates that perinatal anxiety affects approximately 11% to 21% of people during pregnancy or the postpartum year (peer-reviewed; JOGNN, 2022). As with perinatal depression, there is no single CDC national figure for perinatal anxiety, so these estimates come from the clinical literature.
Clinicians increasingly group these conditions under a broader umbrella: perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs). This category includes perinatal depression, perinatal anxiety and panic, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and post-traumatic stress related to birth, among others. Taken together, PMADs are estimated to affect 15% to 21% of pregnant and postpartum women (peer-reviewed).
Put simply: by the broadest reasonable measure, somewhere between one in seven and one in five mothers experiences a diagnosable mood or anxiety disorder connected to pregnancy or the postpartum period. That makes PMADs collectively the most common complication of childbirth.
Mental Health Is Now the Leading Cause of Pregnancy-Related Death
The prevalence figures set the stage for the central finding of this article. When the CDC’s Maternal Mortality Review Committees examined pregnancy-related deaths across 36 U.S. states from 2017 through 2019, mental health conditions emerged as the single leading underlying cause of death — 22.7%, or 224 of the pregnancy-related deaths reviewed (CDC MMRC, 2024).
That placed mental health ahead of every traditional obstetric and cardiovascular cause, including hemorrhage and cardiac conditions.
| Underlying cause of death | Share of pregnancy-related deaths (2017–2019) |
|---|---|
| Mental health conditions | 22.7% |
| Hemorrhage | 13.7% |
| Cardiac and coronary conditions | 12.8% |
| Infection | 9.2% |
| Thrombotic embolism | 8.7% |
| Cardiomyopathy | 8.5% |
| Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy | 6.5% |
Source: CDC Maternal Mortality Review Committees, 36 states, 2017–2019 (CDC MMRC, 2024).
A crucial point about how this category is defined: in the MMRC framework, “mental health conditions” includes deaths by suicide and deaths from overdose or poisoning related to a substance use disorder (CDC MMRC, 2024). Framing these deaths as a mental health cause — rather than scattering them across unrelated categories — is part of what revealed their scale. For the broader context on self-inflicted deaths, see our suicide deaths pillar; for the substance-use dimension, our substance use disorder page.
The Racial Pattern Behind the Average
The 22.7% national figure conceals sharp differences by race and ethnicity, and those differences are essential to understanding where prevention needs to be directed.
Mental health conditions were the leading underlying cause of pregnancy-related death among Hispanic women (24.1%) and non-Hispanic White women (34.8%). Among non-Hispanic Black women, mental health conditions accounted for 7.0% of pregnancy-related deaths — and were not the leading cause for that group. For Black women, the leading underlying cause was cardiac and coronary conditions (CDC MMRC, 2024).
This does not mean Black mothers are spared the maternal health crisis — the opposite is true. Black women in the United States experience substantially higher overall rates of pregnancy-related death, with a different distribution of causes weighted toward cardiovascular conditions. The pattern underscores that “maternal mental health” and “maternal mortality” are not one uniform problem but several overlapping ones, and that effective response has to be tailored rather than one-size-fits-all. Our women population page situates these disparities within the broader picture.
Most of These Deaths Are Preventable — and Many Come Late
Two further findings from the 2017–2019 review reframe the maternal mental health crisis as a matter of prevention rather than inevitability.
First, the overwhelming majority of these deaths could have been avoided. The MMRCs determined that 84.2% of pregnancy-related deaths — 839 of the 996 deaths reviewed — were preventable (CDC MMRC, 2024). Among the deaths for which committees made a manner-of-death determination, 8.4% were suicides. A death judged preventable is one where a reasonable change at the patient, provider, facility, system, or community level could plausibly have altered the outcome.
Second, the danger does not end at delivery. 53% of pregnancy-related deaths occurred between 7 and 365 days postpartum (CDC MMRC, 2024) — well after the standard six-week checkup that has historically marked the end of maternity care. Mental-health-related deaths in particular tend to cluster in this later postpartum window, precisely when clinical contact often drops off. This is a central reason maternal health advocates and clinicians have pushed to extend postpartum care and screening across the full first year.
More recent data continue to point in the same direction. The CDC’s ongoing MMRC dashboard reports that mental health conditions remain among the leading causes of pregnancy-related death in years after the 2017–2019 review period (CDC MMRC dashboard, 2026), reinforcing that the 2017–2019 findings were not a one-year anomaly but a sustained pattern.
Taken together, the numbers describe a crisis that is common, frequently fatal, disproportionately late in onset, and — most importantly — largely preventable. Recognizing perinatal depression and anxiety as medical conditions that warrant screening, follow-up, and treatment through the entire first postpartum year is the throughline connecting the prevalence data at the top of this article to the mortality data at the bottom.
Frequently Asked Questions
How common is perinatal depression?
Perinatal depression affects approximately 1 in 7 people — about 14% — during pregnancy or the first year postpartum (peer-reviewed; StatPearls/NIH, 2025). Estimates range from 8.5% to 11.0% during pregnancy and 6.5% to 12.9% in the first postpartum year. There is no single CDC national prevalence figure, which is why the research reports ranges.
What are perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs)?
PMADs are a group of conditions — including perinatal depression, anxiety, panic, and birth-related trauma — that occur during pregnancy or the postpartum period. Peer-reviewed research estimates they affect 15% to 21% of pregnant and postpartum women, and perinatal anxiety specifically affects roughly 11% to 21% (peer-reviewed).
Are mental health conditions really the leading cause of maternal death?
Yes. In the CDC’s review of pregnancy-related deaths across 36 states from 2017 to 2019, mental health conditions were the single leading underlying cause at 22.7% (224 deaths), ahead of hemorrhage (13.7%) and cardiac causes (12.8%) (CDC MMRC, 2024). This category includes deaths by suicide and by overdose related to substance use disorder.
Does this pattern hold for all racial and ethnic groups?
No. Mental health conditions were the leading cause of pregnancy-related death among Hispanic (24.1%) and non-Hispanic White (34.8%) women, but accounted for 7.0% among non-Hispanic Black women, whose leading cause was cardiac and coronary conditions (CDC MMRC, 2024). Black women face higher overall maternal mortality with a different distribution of causes.
When do most pregnancy-related deaths occur?
Most occur after birth. About 53% of pregnancy-related deaths happened between 7 and 365 days postpartum in the 2017–2019 review — after the traditional six-week checkup (CDC MMRC, 2024). This late clustering is one reason experts advocate extending postpartum mental health screening and care across the full first year.
Are these deaths preventable?
The CDC’s Maternal Mortality Review Committees determined that 84.2% of pregnancy-related deaths in 2017–2019 — 839 of 996 — were preventable (CDC MMRC, 2024). That finding is why screening, follow-up, and treatment for perinatal depression and anxiety are considered essential, not optional, parts of maternity care.
Sources
- Carlson K, Mughal S, Azhar Y, Siddiqui W. Perinatal Depression. StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing / National Center for Biotechnology Information; 2025. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519070/
- Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing (JOGNN); 2022. https://www.jognn.org/article/S0884-2175(22)00037-5/pdf
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pregnancy-Related Deaths: Data from Maternal Mortality Review Committees in 36 U.S. States, 2017–2019. CDC; 2024. https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/maternal-mortality/php/data-research/mmrc-2017-2019.html
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pregnancy-Related Deaths: Data from Maternal Mortality Review Committees (dashboard). CDC; 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/maternal-mortality/php/data-research/mmrc/index.html