Antenatal and postnatal maternal mood symptoms and psychiatric disorders in pre-school children from the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort

BACKGROUND Maternal mood symptoms have been associated with psychiatric disorders in children. This study aimed to assess critical periods when maternal symptoms would be more deleterious. METHODS Cohort of 4231 births followed-up in the city of Pelotas, Brazil. Mood symptoms during pregnancy were self-reported by mothers at perinatal interview; and at 3-months postpartum, mothers answered the Self-Reporting Questionnaire. Psychiatric disorders in 6-year-old children were evaluated through the Development and Well-Being Assessment instrument. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated by logistic regression. RESULTS Prevalence of mood symptoms in pregnancy was 24.6% (23.2-26.0%) and at three months postpartum 22.5% (21.1-23.9%). Prevalence of mental disorders in children was 13.3% (12.2-14.4%). After adjustment for confounders children of mothers with mood symptoms during pregnancy were 82% more likely of presenting psychiatric disorders than children of mothers that did not (1.82; 1.48-2.25); and the chance of having mental disorders among children whose mothers had positive SRQ-20 at three months postpartum was 87% greater than the observed among children whose mothers had it negative (1.87; 1.50-2.33). LIMITATIONS Because maternal anxiety/depression may interfere with interpretation of the child behavior, child׳s mental health being obtained by interviewing the mother is a limitation of this study. Lack of information on other risk factors may have lead to residual confounding on the effect of maternal mood symptoms at three months postpartum. CONCLUSIONS Children of mothers presenting mood symptoms during pregnancy and in the first months postpartum are more likely to present psychiatric disorders at 6 years of age.