Trial reportMaternal & child nutrition2017
The impact of maternal diet fortification with lipid-based nutrient supplements on postpartum depression in rural Malawi: a randomised-controlled trial.
Trial report in Maternal & child nutrition, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Screening tools for maternal mental health in Africa: a systematic review.Frontiers in global women's health · 2026Pooled it
- Multiple-micronutrient supplementation for women during pregnancy.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Lipid-based nutrient supplements for maternal, birth, and infant developmental outcomes.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Understanding modifiable caregiver factors contributing to child development among young children in rural Malawi.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Trial
- Maternal supplementation with small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements during pregnancy and lactation does not reduce depressive symptoms at 6 months postpartum in Ghanaian women: a randomized controlled trial.Archives of women's mental health · 2018Trial
- The impact of maternal diet fortification with lipid-based nutrient supplements on postpartum depression in rural Malawi: a randomised-controlled trial.Maternal & child nutrition · 2017Trial
- Comparative Efficacy of Interventions for the Prevention and Treatment of Postpartum Depression: A Bayesian Network Meta-analysis.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Ferroptosis in depression: mechanisms, association, and therapeutic strategies.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2026Review
- Prevalence of mental distress in adults with and without a history of tuberculosis in an urban Zambian community.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2023Article
- Systematic review on the prevalence of perinatal depression in Malawi.The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2022Article
- Effects of vitamin and mineral supplementation during pregnancy on maternal, birth, child health and development outcomes in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review.Campbell systematic reviews · 2021Article
- The Association between Maternal Depression, Infant Characteristics and Need for Assistance in A Low-Income-Country.Journal of substance abuse and alcoholism · 2021Article
- Associations between antenatal depression and neonatal outcomes in Malawi.Maternal & child nutrition · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Perinatal depression is highly prevalent in low-and-middle-income countries and has been linked to poor child health. Suboptimal maternal nutrition may be a risk factor for perinatal depression. In this randomised-controlled trial conducted in rural Malawi, we set out to test the hypothesis that women taking a fatty acid-rich lipid-based nutrient supplement (LNS) would have fewer depressive symptoms postpartum than those taking iron-folate (IFA) or multiple-micronutrient (MMN) capsules. Women were recruited from antenatal clinics and randomised to receive LNS or MMN during pregnancy and for 6 months postpartum, or IFA during pregnancy only. Maternal depressive symptoms were measured using validated translations of the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), antenatally (SRQ only) and at 6 months postpartum (SRQ and EPDS). Analysis was by modified intention to treat. One thousand three hundred and ninety one women were randomised (LNS = 462, MMN = 466, IFA = 463). The groups were similar across a range of baseline variables. At 6 months postpartum, 1078 (77.5%) had SRQ completed; mean (SD) scores were LNS 1.76(2.73), MMN 1.92(2.75), IFA 1.71(2.66), P = 0.541. One thousand and fifty seven (76.0%) had EPDS completed; mean (SD) scores were LNS 5.77(5.53), MMN 5.43(4.97), IFA 5.52(5.18), P = 0.676. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups on SRQ or EPDS scores (continuous or dichotomised) in unadjusted or adjusted models. In conclusion, fortification of maternal diet with LNS compared with MMN or IFA did not reduce postnatal depressive symptoms in this study.
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