Maternal depression can significantly impair the ability of women to perform daily care tasks for their children, according to an article in the May-June issue of Ambulatory Pediatrics. The findings came from a first-of-its-kind study that evaluated mental health in mothers who brought children to a university center for non-urgent health care.
Jacqueline Grupp-Phelan, MD, MPH, and her colleagues administered a mental-health screening to 492 mothers who brought their 6-month-old to 18-month-old children to a university emergency department for low-grade illness or to a pediatric clinic for well-child care. Almost 1 in 5 mothers (18 percent) screened positive for depression, with 9 percent demonstrating major depression and 5 percent showing suicidal thoughts.

In addition, 30 percent of mothers screened positive for 1 of 4 mental health problems: depression, anxiety disorder, panic disorder, or somatic complaints (last including common physical ailments such as stomach or back pain, headaches, bowel problems or trouble sleeping).
The impact of maternal distress was shown in another finding: 76 percent of those who screened positive for depression reported that their depression "made it difficult to care for their children," said Grupp-Phelan, MD, MPH, the study's lead author.

"The high rates of depressive symptoms and of mothers' reports that these symptoms cause them difficulty in caring for their children indicate that resources to screen for and address depressive symptoms in mothers should receive high priority in pediatric health care settings," she concluded.