Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the relation of maternal depressive symptoms with attained size and whether
it is stronger for young children in low-income families.
Methods
Secondary analysis was performed of longitudinal data from enrollment and parents
surveys from the Healthy Steps for Young Children National Evaluation among 4745 children
who made at least one visit to a Healthy Steps site. Length and weight data from medical
records were converted to z scores and percentiles for length for age and weight for length at 6, 12, and 24
months using 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth standards. Analyses
evaluated the relation of maternal depressive symptoms at 2 to 4 months using a modified
14-item Center for Epidemiologic Depression Scale with attained size and child, maternal,
and family characteristics. Regression models estimated the relation of symptoms with
z scores and logistic regression the relation for short stature (below 10th percentile
for length for age), adjusted for covariates.
Results
Maternal depressive symptoms were associated with z scores for length for age at 6, 12, and 24 months and short stature at 6 and 24 months
for children in low/middle-income families. The z scores at 24 months remained significantly lower for children in low/middle-income
families whose mothers reported depressive symptoms, after adjustment for covariates.
The odds of short stature were significantly increased at 6 months in the total sample
and among low/middle-income families for children whose mothers reported symptoms.
Other measures of attained size were not associated with depressive symptoms.
Conclusions
The link between maternal symptoms and young children's risk of short stature reinforces
recommendations for increased screening for postpartum depressive symptoms and for
clinicians to review growth charts with parents for impaired/unfavorable patterns.
Keywords
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: October 21, 2015
Accepted:
October 16,
2015
Received:
October 9,
2014
Footnotes
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
