Bell Kerry, Bloor Karen, Hewitt Catherine
York Trials Unit, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK.
Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK.
Matern Child Health J. 2019 Sep;23(9):1187-1195. doi: 10.1007/s10995-019-02749-w.
Evidence suggests that maternal psychological distress is an under-diagnosed condition that can have lasting impacts on child outcomes. Models based solely on maternal outcomes have not found screening to be cost-effective. This research explores the effects of self-reported maternal psychological distress on children's language and behavioural development up to the age of 7.
Using longitudinal survey data from 10,893 families in the UK Millennium Cohort Study, multilevel models are used to explore the differential effects of maternal diagnosed and treated depression versus untreated maternal psychological distress during the postnatal year on longer-term child outcomes.
Both diagnosed and treated depression and self-reported maternal psychological distress have detrimental effects on child behavioural development. Behavioural outcomes up to age 5 were better for children of women who received treatment for depression, compared with children those whose mothers' psychological distress was untreated, but this was not maintained to age 7. Little or no evidence of a difference was found between maternal psychological distress and child language development.
This research highlights the lack of effectiveness of existing treatment for maternal psychological distress both to benefit child development and to provide long-term symptom remediation for women. Future research could aim to identify more effective treatments for both women and children.
有证据表明，产妇心理困扰是一种诊断不足的状况，可能会对儿童的成长结果产生持久影响。仅基于产妇结果的模型并未发现筛查具有成本效益。本研究探讨了自我报告的产妇心理困扰对7岁以下儿童语言和行为发展的影响。
利用英国千禧世代研究中10893个家庭的纵向调查数据，采用多层次模型探讨产后一年内产妇诊断和治疗的抑郁症与未治疗的产妇心理困扰对儿童长期成长结果的不同影响。
诊断和治疗的抑郁症以及自我报告的产妇心理困扰均对儿童行为发展有不利影响。与母亲心理困扰未得到治疗的儿童相比，接受抑郁症治疗的女性的孩子在5岁前的行为结果更好，但这种情况在7岁时并未持续。在产妇心理困扰与儿童语言发展之间几乎没有发现差异的证据。
本研究凸显了现有产妇心理困扰治疗方法在促进儿童发展和为女性提供长期症状缓解方面缺乏有效性。未来的研究可以致力于为女性和儿童找到更有效的治疗方法。
