Title |
Maternal mental health and nutritional status of six-month-old infants
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Published in |
Revista de Saúde Pública, March 2016
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DOI | 10.1590/s1518-8787.2016050006237 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Bruna Kulik Hassan, Guilherme Loureiro Werneck, Maria Helena Hasselmann |
Abstract |
OBJECTIVE To analyze if maternal mental health is associated with infant nutritional status at six month of age. METHODS A cross-sectional study with 228 six-month-old infants who used primary health care units of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Southeastern Brazil. Mean weight-for-length and mean weight-for-age were expressed in z-scores considering the 2006 World Health Organization reference curves. Maternal mental health was measured by the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. The following cutoff points were used: ≥ 3 for common mental disorders, ≥ 5 for more severe mental disorders, and ≥ 9 for depression. The statistical analysis employed adjusted linear regression models. RESULTS The prevalence of common mental disorders, more severe mental disorders and depression was 39.9%, 23.7%, and 8.3%, respectively. Children of women with more severe mental disorders had, on average, a weight-for-length 0.37 z-scores lower than children of women without this health harm (p = 0.026). We also observed that the weight-for-length indicator of children of depressed mothers was, on average, 0.67 z-scores lower than that of children of nondepressed women (p = 0.010). Maternal depression was associated with lower mean values of weight-for-age z-scores (p = 0.041). CONCLUSIONS Maternal mental health is positively related to the inadequacy of the nutritional status of infants at six months. |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 156 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Master | 22 | 14% |
Student > Bachelor | 20 | 13% |
Researcher | 18 | 12% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 13 | 8% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 9 | 6% |
Other | 20 | 13% |
Unknown | 54 | 35% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Nursing and Health Professions | 31 | 20% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 24 | 15% |
Psychology | 14 | 9% |
Social Sciences | 11 | 7% |
Computer Science | 2 | 1% |
Other | 13 | 8% |
Unknown | 61 | 39% |