A blood test during pregnancy might help diagnose the possibility of postpartum depression, a research team from the University of California Irvine revealed.

The researchers analyzed blood samples from 100 pregnant women, and said women with higher level of placental corticotropin-releasing-hormone during mid-pregnancy had a greater chance of suffering postpartum depression. The study was published in the latest edition of the Archives of General Psychiatry. The researchers analyzed hormone levels at the 15th, 19th, 25th, 31st and 37th weeks of pregnancy, and blood samples at the 25th week of pregnancy showed the highest accuracy rate to predict postpartum depression.

About 10 to 20 percent of post-natal women are diagnosed with postpartum depression. These women experience intense sadness or emptiness for four weeks after the birth of their child.