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
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Academic PediatricsAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Antepartum and postpartum depression: healthy mom, healthy baby.J Am Med Womens Assoc. 2004; 59: 181-191
- Perinatal depression: a systematic review of prevalence and incidence.Obstet Gynecol. 2005; 106: 1071-1083
- Postpartum depressive symptomatology: results from a two-stage US national survey.J Midwifery Womens Health. 2011; 56: 427-435
- Maternal depression and parenting behavior: a meta-analytic review.Clin Psychol Rev. 2000; 20: 561-592
- The timing of maternal depressive symptoms and mothers parenting practices with young children: implications for pediatric practice.Pediatrics. 2006; 118: e174-e182
- Adaptive and maladaptive parenting: perspectives on risk and protective factors.in: Shonkoff J.P. Meisels S.M. Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge2000: 65-67
- Maternal depressive symptoms and children's receipt of health care in the first three years of life.Pediatrics. 2005; 115: 306-315
- Onset and persistence of postpartum depression in an inner-city maternal health clinic system.Am J Psychiatry. 2001; 158: 1856-1863
- An analysis of personal and social factors influencing initiation and duration of breastfeeding in a large Queensland maternity hospital.Breastfeed Rev. 2000; 8: 25-33
- The influence of maternal socioeconomic and emotional factors on infant weight gain and weight faltering (failure to thrive): data from a prospective birth cohort.Arch Dis Child. 2006; 91: 312-317
- Impact of maternal depression on infant nutritional status and illness: a cohort study.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2004; 61: 946-952
- Maternal social and pyschological conditions and physical growth in low-income children in Piaui, Northeast Brazil.Soc Sci Med. 2007; 64: 375-388
- Postnatal depression and infant growth and development in low income countries: a cohort study from Goa, India.Arch Dis Child. 2003; 88: 34-37
- Family, socioeconomic and prenatal factors associated with failure to thrive in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).Int J Epidemiol. 2004; 33: 839-847
- Failure to thrive in the term and preterm infants of mothers depressed in the postnatal period: a population-based birth cohort study.J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2004; 45: 359-366
- Maternal postnatal depression and child growth: a European cohort study.BMC Pediatr. 2010; 10: 14
- Maternal depressive symptoms not associated with reduced height in young children in a US prospective cohort study.PLoS One. 2010; 5: e13656
- Impact of maternal depressive symptoms on growth of preschool- and school-aged children.Pediatrics. 2012; 130: e847-e855
- Does overweight in infancy persist through the preschool years? An analysis of CDC Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System data.Soz Praventivmed. 2003; 48: 161-167
- High prevalence of overweight and short stature among Head Start children in Massachusetts.Public Health Rep. 1994; 109: 767-773
- Chronic maternal depression is associated with reduced weight gain in Latino infants from birth to 2 years of age.PLoS One. 2011; 6: e16737
- Maternal and child undernutrition: consequences for adult health and human capital.Lancet. 2008; 371: 340-357
- Nutritional status of preschool children.J Am Diet Assoc. 1977; 71: 20-26
- Assessing the impact of pediatric-based developmental services on infants, families and clinicians: challenges to evaluating the Healthy Steps program.Pediatrics. 2000; 105: 1-10
- The CES-D scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population.Appl Psychol Measure. 1977; 1: 385-401
- 2000 CDC growth charts for the United States: methods and development. National Center for Health Statistics.Vital Health Stat 11. 2002; : 1-190
- Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011–2012.JAMA. 2014; 311: 806-814
- A systematic review of studies validating the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale in antepartum and postpartum women.Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2009; 119: 350-364
- An examination of the measurement adequacy of the CES-D among African American women family caregivers.Psychiatry Res. 2010; 179: 107-112
- Brief maternal depression screening at well-child visits.Pediatrics. 2006; 118: 207-216
- Prenatal stress and its effects on the fetus and the child: possible underlying biological mechanisms.Adv Neurobiol. 2015; 10: 269-283
- Prenatal depression and adverse birth outcomes: an updated systematic review.Matern Child Health J. 2015; 19: 1306-1337
- A meta-analysis of depression during pregnancy and the risk of preterm birth, low birth weight, and intrauterine growth restriction.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010; 67: 1012-1024
- The impact of maternal depression during pregnancy on perinatal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.J Clin Psychiatry. 2013; 74: e321-e341
- Associations between maternal prenatal cortisol concentrations and child outcomes: a systematic review.Neurosci Behav Rev. 2015; 53: 1-24
- Prenatal stress and the programming of the HPA axis.Neurosci Behav Rev. 2010; 35: 17-22
- The iceberg of social disadvantage and chronic stress: implications for public health.Neurosci Behav Rev. 2010; 35: 1
- Maternal symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety are related to nonresponsive feeding styles in a statewide sample of WIC participants.J Nutr. 2008; 138: 799-805
- Malnutrition and dysfunctional mother–child feeding interactions: clinical assessment and research implications.J Am Coll Nutr. 2004; 23: 259-271
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.