Researchers from John Hopkins School of Public Health have found that mothers who report symptoms of depression in the first year after giving birth may be likely to have shorter children. Click below to read more.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, Md., looked at height data for more than 6,500 children during pre-school and kindergarten. They found that kids around age four with mothers who reported having mild or moderate depression during their child’s infancy were more than 40 percent more likely to have children with short stature compared to mothers who did not report depressive symptoms.
The study suggests that a link between the mother’s depression and the child’s height persists several years after the mother’s reported depression, according to Pamela Surkan, an assistant professor of public health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and lead author of the study.
However, for some kids the stunted growth didn’t last. The short stature only persisted through age 5 in those with moderate depression, according to the study.
While the study does not indicate when the symptoms of depression began for the women or for how long the symptoms persisted, it’s likely that in order for the depression to have affected the child, the mother may have been depressed for months, according to Dr. Kenneth Robbins, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, who was not associated with the study.
While the study did not mention what may have caused the link between postpartum depression and stunted grown, Robbins listed a few theories. One reason may be that some children may also be depressed, which can affect the endocrine system and could disrupt the growth hormone, he said.
The study did not confirm that the women were clinically diagnosed with postpartum depression. However, Surkan said it’s likely that the numbers may be similar for children whose mothers had a clinical diagnosis.
Nearly 1 out of every 5 mothers in the U.S. has postpartum depression, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
