Reported May 11, 2010

Young children whose mothers have long-lasting postpartum depression do not seem to suffer any ill effects on their growth and weight gain.

Depression in women during pregnancy or the first year following delivery (post-partum) is on the rise with most of these episodes having onset after delivery. Maternal depression adversely affects women’s health and well-being, with symptoms such as depressed mood, tiredness, insomnia, low self-esteem, and a lack of energy and interest in the environment. Maternal depression has been investigated as a risk factor for impaired caretaking capacity to provide sensitive, responsive, and stimulating care, which is important for infants’ and children’s psychological development and physical well-being. Post-natal maternal depression may contribute to the risk of growth impairment and illness in children through several ways, including early cessation of breastfeeding and inadvertent reduced maternal attention to and care of children’s needs.

To investigate the link between sustained maternal depression and child growth, Brazilian researchers followed 3,792 children and their mothers over the children's first four years of life. Mothers were interviewed, and their newborns were examined within 24 hours of delivery. Detailed maternal characteristics regarding age at delivery, skin color, family income in the month before delivery, education, smoking, pre-pregnancy weight, reproductive history, and health care use were obtained via a questionnaire. Mothers and children were visited at home at 3, 12, 24, and 48 months and maternal depression was measured and categorized as never depressed, depressed in 1 or 2 follow-up visits, and always depressed.

A 48-month follow-up revealed that 69.9% of the mothers were never depressed, 25.4% were depressed at 1 or 2 visits, and 4.7% presented long-lasting depression (at the 3 visits). Analysis of crude data showed that prevalence of underweight and stunting were, respectively, 3- and 2-times higher in children of mothers with long-lasting depression than in children of mothers who were never depressed. But adjusted analyses focusing only on the relation between maternal depression and children's weight and height at 48 months revealed that maternal depression was not associated with these indices.

The researchers explained that the prevalence of underweight and stunting was linked to other factors like family income, maternal schooling, age of mother, the number of children borne, maternal smoking etc. and not to maternal depression. In view of the high prevalence of maternal depression, the researchers say there is need for a more integrated approach to maternal and child care at the community level and health care workers need to be prepared to screen and recognize maternal depression and to treat it appropriately.

Source : NDTV