Risk Factors for Maternal Depression in Neonatal and Head Start Age Groups

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Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics| November 01 1999 Risk Factors for Maternal Depression in Neonatal and Head Start Age Groups AAP Grand Rounds (1999) 2 (5): 56–57. https://doi.org/10.1542/gr.2-5-56 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Risk Factors for Maternal Depression in Neonatal and Head Start Age Groups. AAP Grand Rounds November 1999; 2 (5): 56–57. https://doi.org/10.1542/gr.2-5-56 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All PublicationsAll JournalsAAP Grand RoundsPediatricsHospital PediatricsPediatrics In ReviewNeoReviewsAAP NewsAll AAP Sites Search Advanced Search Topics: depression, maternal, head start program, newborn, depressive disorders Sources: (1) Lanzi RG, Pascoe JM, Keltner B, Ramey S. Correlates of maternal depressive symptoms in a national Head Start sample. Arch Pediatr Adol Med. 1999;153:801–807. (2) Mandl KD, Tronick EZ, Brennan TA, Alpert HR, Homer CJ. Infant health care use and maternal depression. Arch Pediatr Adol Med. 1999;153:808–813. These two studies examined maternal depression, which is a very common and important problem that often goes untreated and undiagnosed. Lanzi and her associates examined depressive symptomatology among 5,820 mothers during their children’s kindergarten years using data collected from the National Head Start/Public School Early Childhood Transition Demonstration Project. Rates of maternal depression were assessed using the Parent Health and Depression Questionnaire, a 3-item, validated screening tool. The mean (SD) age of the mothers was 30.1 (5.55) years; 57% were unemployed; 68% had a high school diploma; 46% were non-Hispanic white, 30% African American, 13% Hispanic, 6% American Indian, 1% Asian American, 4% other. More than 40% of the mothers screened positive for depressive symptoms. The strongest associations, after controlling for several biological and demographic variables, were maternal chronic health problem (adjusted odds ratio, 2.77; 95% confidence interval 1.98–3.87), homelessness (adjusted odds ratio, 2.00; 95% CI 1.45–2.77), and lowest income level (adjusted odds ratio, 1.56; 95% CI 1.30–1.88). The authors recommended interventions that are targeted at alleviating maternal depressive symptoms by providing support programs for single parents, providing accessible and affordable medical care for all parents and their children, and decreasing poverty. Mandl et al examined whether Massachusetts women who, in the first month, bring their neonates for problem-oriented primary care visits or to an emergency room were at higher risk for maternal depression using 2 prospective cohort studies of mothers and their infants: a telephone interview study of mothers and infants after birth at an urban teaching hospital (n=1015, the hospital-identified cohort) and a nationally representative sample of women who had live births from the 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey (n=6779, the national sample). Independent variables were either the occurrence of more than 1 problem-oriented, newborn primary care visit or emergency department visits or both. The same outcome measure was used for both cohorts: a depressive symptoms score above the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale cutoff score of 15. After controlling for sociodemographic variables and parity, women exhibited high levels of depressive symptoms if their infants had more than 1 problem-oriented primary care visit (hospital-identified cohort: odds ratio, 2.0 [95% CI 1.1–4.3]; national cohort: odds ratio, 2.0 [95% CI 1.5–3.0]). Women exhibited high levels of depressive symptoms if their infants had even 1 emergency department visit: hospital-identified cohort (odds ratio, 3.2; 95% CI 1.5–6.9). No information on emergency department visits was reported for the national sample. Frequent well-child visits were not associated with maternal depressive symptoms. The authors concluded that neonatal health care use patterns predict women at risk for postpartum depression and that recognition of these signature patterns of service use by pediatric health care providers... You do not currently have access to this content.