Abstract overview:
Postpartum depression is a mental disorder that manifests after childbirth with serious consequences for the mother and the newborn. There is research data linking postpartum depression with the smoking status of the mother during the perinatal period

Aims and objectives:
The purpose of this review is to study the relationship between postpartum depression and perinatal smoking.

Method:
A search for scientific articles was conducted in the electronic databases PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar, using the keywords “postpartum depression,” “smoking cessation,” “pregnancy,” “postpartum,” “perinatal period,” “smoking” in all possible combinations.

Results:
The depressive mood is a predictive factor and affects the smoking behavior of women during the perinatal period, as it is strongly related to smoking disease, the difficulty of quitting, and relapse. Abstinence from smoking and cessation of smoking in women planning pregnancy reduces the likelihood of postpartum depressive symptoms compared to women who quit smoking in close time frames before conception or immediately after learning of their pregnancy. Women who smoke before pregnancy and continue smoking during the third trimester, as well as after childbirth, are more likely to suffer from postpartum depression compared to those who report having quit smoking during the same periods. Additionally, postpartum women who smoke (regardless of their smoking status in previous periods) are more likely to experience postpartum depression compared to those who quit smoking during pregnancy and do not relapse after childbirth. Postpartum depression appears to occur more frequently when there is exposure to smoking during pregnancy, and cessation of smoking during pregnancy has a beneficial effect on reducing risk. Postpartum women who smoke are very likely to simultaneously exhibit symptoms of depression. This fact hinders the success of smoking cessation interventions and often leads to relapse, resulting in continued smoking. On the other hand, those postpartum women who have quit smoking during pregnancy need support to prevent returning to their previous smoking status after childbirth, as relapse is observed in many cases. Depressive symptoms at the end of pregnancy mitigate the response to interventions designed to prevent relapse of smoking after childbirth. To enable early detection of depressive symptoms, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is administered. Assessing depression at the end of pregnancy can be used as a tool to detect cases and be taken into account for the appropriate planning, course, and outcome of smoking cessation interventions. Pregnant and postpartum women who smoke and are at increased risk of developing postpartum depression seem to respond to incentive-based smoking cessation intervention programs, change their smoking profile, prevent relapse, and improve scores on scales measuring depression.

Conclusion:
The findings of the studies are necessary to motivate health professionals to incorporate the assessment and treatment of mental health into smoking cessation intervention and support programs during the perinatal period. In this way, cases of postpartum depression will be identified, and personalized interventions will be designed to promote health and prevent relapse.