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Published on: August 7, 2017
Associations between postpartum depressive symptoms and childhood asthma diminish with child age
A L Kozyrskyj1,2,3, N L Letourneau4, L J Kang1
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Insights
Maternal postpartum depression symptoms were linked to childhood asthma in early school years, but this association faded by ages 9-10. Further research should explore home and school stress impacts on childhood asthma development.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
- Reproductive Psychiatry
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Postpartum depression (PPD) affects 19% of women, posing risks to maternal and infant health.
- PPD has been linked to early-onset childhood asthma, particularly if depression persists.
- The persistence of this association into later school ages remains understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between maternal postpartum depressive symptoms and childhood asthma.
- To examine this relationship longitudinally in children aged 5-10 years.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (1994-2004).
- Employed a nested longitudinal design with multilevel modeling.
- Assessed child asthma via professional diagnosis and maternal depressive symptoms using the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale for 1696 children.
Main Results:
- Maternal postpartum depressive symptoms showed a significant 1.5-fold association with childhood asthma at ages 6-8.
- This association was independent of several covariates, including sex, maternal asthma, socioeconomic status, and birth order.
- The statistical significance was lost by age 8, and no association was evident by ages 9-10.
Conclusions:
- While maternal postpartum depressive symptoms were associated with childhood asthma at ages 6-7, this link diminished in later school years.
- Findings suggest that the impact of postpartum depression on childhood asthma may be transient.
- Future research should incorporate home and school life stressors to better understand asthma development in later childhood.
Background:
Affecting 19% of women, postpartum depression is a major concern to the immediate health of mothers and infants. In the long-term, it has been linked to the development of early-onset asthma at school entry, but only if the depression persists beyond the postnatal period. No studies have tested whether associations with postpartum depressive symptoms and early-onset asthma phenotypes persist into later school age.
Objective:
To determine associations between maternal postpartum depressive symptoms and childhood asthma between the ages of 5-10 by using a nested longitudinal design.
Methods:
Data were drawn from the 1994-2004 administrations of the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, which tracks the health of a nationally representative sample of children in Canada. Child asthma was diagnosed by a health professional, and maternal depressive symptoms were assessed by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. Analyses were conducted by using a multilevel modelling approach, in which longitudinal assessments of asthma in 1696 children were nested within the exposure of postpartum depression.
Results:
Postpartum depressive symptoms had a 1.5-fold significant association with childhood asthma between the ages 6-8. This was independent of male sex, maternal asthma, non-immigrant status, low household socioeconomic status, being firstborn, low birthweight, low family functioning and urban-rural residence, of which the first 4 covariates elevated the risk of asthma. Statistical significance was lost at age 8 when maternal prenatal smoking replaced urban-rural residence as a covariate. At ages 9-10, an association was no longer evident.
Conclusions And Clinical Relevance:
Women affected by postpartum depressive symptoms are concerned about long-term health effects of their illness on their infants. Although postpartum depressive symptoms were associated with school-age asthma at ages 6 and 7, this association diminished later. Both home and school life stress should be considered in future studies on asthma development later in childhood.
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