Yoga as a body-mind method for pregnant women with depression: a systematic review

Introduction: The World Health Organization considers prenatal depression as a major public health problem that currently affects 10-20% of pregnant women. It is mainly due to the great release of the hormone cortisol during pregnancy. In recent years, some disciplines such as Yoga, as a body-mind method including breathing techniques, physical postures (asanas) and meditation / relaxation, have gained importance as an alternative therapy against prenatal depression due to its relationship with the indexes and the symptoms of anxiety or stress in pregnant women. Objective: carry out a systematic review of randomized controlled studies on the changes that Yoga generates in the state of depression of pregnant women. Method: Following the Prisma Declaration, the search was conducted in the following databases: Pubmed, Scopus, Medline, Current Contents Connect, Ebsco, Web of Science and CINAHL-Complete. The articles included should be published in the last 10 years and should accomplish some inclusion and exclusion criteria. The search strategy was: "(Yoga) AND (Pregnant OR Prenatal OR Antenatal) AND (Depression)". Seven works with methodological quality >= 6 according to the PEDro scale were selected. Results: The articles that obtained favorable results (n = 4) presented: high participation (n> 90 subjects), good period of follow-up of the subjects (n=12 weeks) and high methodological quality (n=7 points). The articles with unfavorable results (n = 3) presented: low participation (n<60 subjects) and short follow-up period (n=9 weeks). Conclusion: Yoga has turned out to be a favorable alternative therapy to reduce depression rates in pregnant women.