# A Wearable Morning Light Treatment for Postpartum Depression: Confirming Efficacy and Mechanisms

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2024 · $153,588

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
As one of the most common pregnancy complications, nearly 600,000 women in the United States suffer from
postpartum depression annually. Consequences of postpartum depression are far-reaching and include
maternal suicide, functional impairment, and impaired development and psychiatric illness in offspring. Despite
the high prevalence and significant consequences, under current treatment paradigms less than 16% of
women with postpartum depression receive treatment and only 3.2% in total achieve remission. Treatment
uptake in this population is influenced by concerns regarding pharmacotherapy during lactation and caregiving
demands for a newborn. Novel treatments that remove the significant obstacles to accessing care inherent to
the postpartum period, such as non-pharmacological therapies delivered in-home, are urgently needed. Within
the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) domain of arousal/regulatory systems, the circadian timing system and
its alignment with the sleep-wake cycle—called the phase angle difference—represents a promising novel
treatment target. Morning bright light therapy advances circadian timing and is an effective antidepressant for
seasonal and non-seasonal depression. Importantly, bright light therapy is a non-pharmacological intervention
that is administered in-home. However, its efficacy in postpartum depression, and mechanism of action, have
not been established. This administrative supplement is proposed for a parent a randomized controlled trial of
wearable bright light therapy relative to dimmed light placebo for postpartum depression. Inspired by emerging
evidence that implicates light sensitivity as a novel treatment mechanism for light therapy in seasonal affective
disorder, we now have a unique opportunity to leverage ongoing data collection by testing light sensitivity as a
treatment mechanism for wearable morning light therapy in postpartum depression. The aims of the
administrative supplement are as follows: AIM 1: Compare light sensitivity pre- to post-treatment between
women with postpartum depression assigned to bright light therapy (n=15) and dimmed light placebo (n=15).
AIM 2: To evaluate associations between light sensitivity and depression symptoms at pre-treatment, as well
as changes in light sensitivity and changes in depression symptoms from pre- to post-treatment. This project
will be the first to test preliminary effects of wearable bright light therapy on light sensitivity in postpartum
depression, associations between light sensitivity and postpartum depression symptoms, and whether changes
in light sensitivity are associated with changes in postpartum depression symptoms. It will lay the foundation
for understanding novel treatment mechanisms of light therapy, an important step towards personalized
medicine approaches for postpartum depression.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11001739
- **Project number:** 3R01MH121531-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Leslie M Swanson
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $153,588
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-02-01 → 2026-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11001739

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11001739, A Wearable Morning Light Treatment for Postpartum Depression: Confirming Efficacy and Mechanisms (3R01MH121531-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-08-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11001739. Licensed CC0.

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