Trajectories of maternal depression and offspring psychopathology at 6 years: 2004 Pelotas cohort study

Alicia Matijasevich, Joseph Murray, Peter J Cooper, Luciana Anselmi, Aluísio J D Barros, Fernando C Barros, Iná S Santos, Alicia Matijasevich, Joseph Murray, Peter J Cooper, Luciana Anselmi, Aluísio J D Barros, Fernando C Barros, Iná S Santos

Abstract

Background: Few studies have addressed the course and severity of maternal depression and its effects on child psychiatric disorders from a longitudinal perspective. This study aimed to identify longitudinal patterns of maternal depression and to evaluate whether distinct depression trajectories predict particular psychiatric disorders in offspring.

Methods: Cohort of 4231 births followed-up in the city of Pelotas, Brazil. Maternal depressive symptoms were assessed with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 3, 12, 24 and 48 months and 6 years after delivery. Psychiatric disorders in 6-year-old children were evaluated through the development and well-being assessment (DAWBA) instrument. Trajectories of maternal depression were calculated using a group-based modelling approach.

Results: We identified five trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms: a "low" trajectory (34.8%), a "moderate low" (40.9%), a "increasing" (9.0%), a "decreasing" (9.9%), and a "high-chronic" trajectory (5.4%). The probability of children having any psychiatric disorder, as well as both internalizing and externalizing problems, increased as we moved from the "low" to the "high-chronic" trajectory. These differences were not explained by maternal and child characteristics examined in multivariate analyses.

Limitations: Data on maternal depression at 3-months was available on only a sub-sample. In addition, we had to rely on maternal report of child's behavior alone.

Conclusions: The study revealed an additive effect on child outcome of maternal depression over time. We identified a group of mothers with chronic and severe symptoms of depression throughout the first six years of the child life and for this group child psychiatric outcome was particularly compromised.

Keywords: Children; Cohort study; Development and well-being assessment; Group-based modelling; Maternal postnatal depression; Mental health.

Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms (measured by the Edinburgh Pospartum Depression Score, EPDS) by child’s age.

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