The incidence of mental illness in early motherhood in a population-based survey

Perinatal mental health: how nordic data sources have contributed to existing evidence and future avenues to explore

PURPOSE

Perinatal mental health disorders affect a significant number of women with debilitating and potentially life-threatening consequences. Researchers in Nordic countries have access to high quality, population-based data sources and the possibility to link data, and are thus uniquely positioned to fill current evidence gaps. We aimed to review how Nordic studies have contributed to existing evidence on perinatal mental health.

METHODS

We summarized examples of published evidence on perinatal mental health derived from large population-based longitudinal and register-based data from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

RESULTS

Nordic datasets, such as the Danish National Birth Cohort, the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, the Icelandic SAGA cohort, the Norwegian MoBa and ABC studies, as well as the Swedish BASIC and Mom2B studies facilitate the study of prevalence of perinatal mental disorders, and further provide opportunity to prospectively test etiological hypotheses, yielding comprehensive suggestions about the underlying causal mechanisms. The large sample size, extensive follow-up, multiple measurement points, large geographic coverage, biological sampling and the possibility to link data to national registries renders them unique. The use of novel approaches, such as the digital phenotyping data in the novel application-based Mom2B cohort recording even voice qualities and digital phenotyping, or the Danish study design paralleling a natural experiment are considered strengths of such research.

CONCLUSIONS

Nordic data sources have contributed substantially to the existing evidence, and can guide future work focused on the study of background, genetic and environmental factors to ultimately define vulnerable groups at risk for psychiatric disorders following childbirth.

Factors associated with the probability of common mental disorders in pregnant women: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Objective: To estimate the prevalence of probability of common mental disorders in pregnant women and associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study with a quantitative and descriptive approach was performed with 330 pregnant women enrolled in a Women's Health Service located in Mid-West Brazil. Data were obtained through a questionnaire about socio-demographic characteristics and family or personal history. The Self-Reporting Questionnaire and Poisson regression were applied to screen for common mental disorders, aiming to identify factors associated with it. Results: The prevalence of probability of common mental disorders among pregnant women was 57.1% and it was associated with marital status, gestational age, unplanned pregnancy and bleeding. Conclusion: The prevalence of pregnant women likely to have common mental disorders and the average Self-Reporting Questionnaire score estimated in this study were higher than those found in other studies with samples from the general population.