Maternal common mental disorders and malnutrition in children: a case-control study

Despite improvements in the nutritional status of Brazilian children, child malnutrition remains a public health issue. The objective of the present study was to analyse the effect of maternal common mental disorders (MCMD) on child malnutrition in a large Brazilian urban centre with low rates of child malnutrition. Furthermore, we explored the hypothesis that a reduction in the quality of maternal caregiving mediates the relationship between maternal mental health problems and child nutrition.

A case-control study including 294 children aged between 0 and 5 years, with 147 cases and 147 age- and sex-matched controls, was conducted in the city of Salvador, northeastern Brazil. Mothers completed the Self-Report Questionnaire (SRQ-20), the family's socio-economic status was evaluated and the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory was applied. Children were diagnosed as moderately or severely malnourished when the weight-for-height z-score was below -2 SD. Conditional logistic regression was used in the analysis, and the final model was created using the backward technique.

MCMD doubled the risk of moderate or severe malnutrition in children (OR = 2.04; 95% CI: 1.10-3.78). Maternal caregiving can be an important factor mediating the relationship between maternal mental health and child malnutrition.

MCMD must be taken into account in programmes for the treatment and prevention of malnutrition, especially in areas of low malnutrition prevalence.