TY - JOUR
PY - 2018//
TI - Duration of maternal mental health-related outcomes after an infant's death: a retrospective matched cohort study using linkable administrative data
JO - Depression and anxiety
A1 - Wall-Wieler, Elizabeth
A1 - Roos, Leslie L.
A1 - Bolton, James
SP - 305
EP - 312
VL - 35
IS - 4
N2 - BACKGROUND: Mothers have increased mental illness such as anxiety and depression after the death of a child. We examine the duration of this worsening of mental health.
METHODS: The mental health of all mothers who experience the death of an infant (< 1 years old) in Manitoba, Canada between April 1, 1999 and March 31, 2011 (n = 534) is examined in the 4 years leading up to, and the 4 years following, the death of their child. Mental health-related outcomes of these mothers are compared with a matched (3:1) cohort of mothers who did not experience the death of a child (n = 1,602). Three mental health-related outcomes are examined: depression diagnoses, anxiety diagnoses, and use of psychotropic medications.
RESULTS: Compared with mothers who did not experience the death of a child, mothers experiencing this event had higher rates of anxiety diagnoses and psychotropic prescriptions starting 6 months before the death. Elevated rates of anxiety continued for the first year and elevated rates of psychotropic prescriptions continued for 6 months after the death of the child. Mothers who experienced the death of a child had higher rates of depression diagnoses in the year after the death. Relative rates (RR) of depression (RR = 4.94), anxiety (RR = 2.21), and psychotropic medication use (RR = 3.18) were highest in the 6 months after the child's death.
CONCLUSIONS: Elevated rates of depression, anxiety, and psychotropic medication use after the death of a child end within 1 year of the child's death.
© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 1091-4269 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/da.22729 ID - ref1 ER -