Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Jan;92(1):24-8.
doi: 10.1136/adc.2005.086579. Epub 2006 Sep 11.

Maternal depression increases infant risk of diarrhoeal illness: --a cohort study

A Rahman  1 , J Bunn, H Lovel, F Creed
Affiliations

Maternal depression increases infant risk of diarrhoeal illness: --a cohort study

A Rahman et al. Arch Dis Child. 2007 Jan.

Abstract

Aims: To examine the associations between postnatal depression in mothers and diarrhoeal illness in their infants in the first year of life in a low-income country.

Methods: Using a prospective cohort design, 265 infants (n = 130 of mothers having a depressive episode according to the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, at 3 months postnatal and n = 135 of psychologically well mothers) living in rural Rawalpindi, Pakistan, were followed up for 1 year. Frequency of diarrhoeal episodes was measured fortnightly by health workers using a standard questionnaire.

Results: Infants of depressed mothers had significantly more diarrhoeal episodes per year than those of controls (mean 5.5 v 4.0; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.9 to 2.0). The relative risk of having > or =5 diarrhoeal episodes per year in infants of depressed mothers was 2.3 (95% CI 1.6 to 3.1). The association remained significant after adjustment for other risk factors by multivariate analysis.

Conclusions: Maternal depression is associated with infant diarrhoeal morbidity in a low-income community setting. It is independent of the effects of known factors such as undernutrition, socioeconomic status and parental education. Preventive child health programmes targeting mothers must consider their mental health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None.

References

    1. World Health Organization The world health report. Geneva: WHO, 2000
    1. Rahman A, Iqbal Z, Harrington R. Life events, social support, depression and childbirth: perspectives from a rural population in a developing country. Psychol Med 2003331161–1167. - PubMed
    1. Patel V, Rodrigues M, DeSouza N. Gender, poverty, and postnatal depression: a study of mothers in Goa, India. Am J Psychiatry 200215943–47. - PubMed
    1. Rahman A, Iqbal Z, Bunn J.et al Impact of maternal depression on infant nutritional status and illness: a cohort study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 200461946–952. - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization SCAN: schedule for clinical assessment in neuropsychiatry. Geneva: WHO, 1994

Publication types