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Original article
Maternal depression is associated with injuries in children aged 2–4 years: the Pelotas 2004 Birth Cohort
  1. Raquel Siqueira Barcelos1,
  2. Iná da Silva dos Santos1,
  3. Alicia Matijasevich2,
  4. Luciana Anselmi1,
  5. Fernando Celso Barros3
  1. 1 Programa de Pós-graduação em Epidemiologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil
  2. 2 Departamento de Medicina Preventiva, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
  3. 3 Programa de Pós-graduação em Saúde e Comportamento, Universidade Catolica de Pelotas, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
  1. Correspondence to Dr Raquel Siqueira Barcelos, Programa de Pós-graduação em Epidemiologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas 96020-220, Brazil; bio.raquelbarcelos{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Introduction Injuries during childhood, which mostly consist of falls, burns, drowning, poisonings and car crashes, are among the main causes of death among children and young adults in several countries.

Objectives To investigate the association between maternal depression and the incidence of injuries during childhood.

Methods In 2004, children who were born in the municipality of Pelotas, Brazil, were enrolled in a population-based birth cohort, with evaluations at birth and at 3, 12, 24 and 48 months of age. Maternal depression during pregnancy was evaluated at the time of delivery. At 12 and 24 months post partum, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used. The injuries incidence rates at ages of 24–48 months and the crude and adjusted IRRs were calculated with 95% CI through Poisson’s regression.

Results A total of 3533 children were analysed. The incidence of injuries was higher among children whose mothers presented depressive symptoms during pregnancy and at 12 and 24 months compared with those whose mothers did not present any symptoms. In the adjusted analysis, the IRR among girls whose mothers presented depressive symptoms during pregnancy and EPDS ≥13 at 12 and 24 months was 1.31 (1.15–1.50); and, among boys, 1.18 (1.03–1.36).

Interpretation Maternal depression is associated with higher incidence of injuries between 24 and 48 months of age, in both sexes.

  • cohort study
  • child
  • burn
  • fall
  • mental health

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2017-042641

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors RSB and ISS conceived the work, conducted the analyses and drafted the first version of the manuscript. AM, LA and FCB revised the manuscript critically and contributed with interpretations of the findings. All authors approved the submitted version of the manuscript.

    • Funding Wellcome Trust (086974/Z/08/Z), World Health Organization (03014HNI), National Support Program for Centers of Excellence (PRONEX) (04/0882.7), the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq) (481012-2009-5), Brazilian Ministry Health (4589-04), and Children’s Pastorate.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval The present study, in all its phases, was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Medical School of the Federal University of Pelotas, which is affiliated to the Brazilian National Commission for Research Ethics (CONEP).

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Author note This article is based on data from the study "Pelotas Birth Cohort, 2004" conducted by Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology at Universidade Federal de Pelotas, with the collaboration of the Brazilian Public Health Association (ABRASCO). From 2009 to 2013, the Wellcome Trust supported the 2004 birth cohort study.