Li Lu1, Zhizhou Duan2, Yuanyuan Wang3, Amanda Wilson3, Yong Yang4, Longjun Zhu5, Yan Guo5, Yonglang Lv5, Xiaonan Yang5, Renjie Yu5, Shuilan Wang5, Zhengyan Wu5, Ping Jiang5, Mengqing Xia5, Guosheng Wang5, Xiuxia Wang5, Ye Tao6, Xiaohong Li6, Ling Ma6, Liming Huang6, Qin Dong6, Hong Shen6, Jue Sun7, Shun Li7, Wei Deng8, Runsen Chen9. 1. Suzhou Guangji Hospital, Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Soochow University, Suzhou, China; Team IETO, Bordeaux Population Health Research Center, UMR U1219, INSERM, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France. 2. The National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders & Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China; School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China. 3. Division of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. 4. Suzhou Guangji Hospital, Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Soochow University, Suzhou, China. Electronic address: szgjyy@126.com. 5. Suzhou Guangji Hospital, Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Soochow University, Suzhou, China. 6. Suzhou Science and Technology Town Hospital, Suzhou, China. 7. Gusu District Wumenqiao Street Canglang Xincheng Community Health Service Center, Suzhou, China. 8. Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. 9. The National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders & Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China; Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Electronic address: runsen.chen@psych.ox.ac.uk.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Poor mental health status among both pregnant and postpartum women is commonly reported worldwide. The associations between mental health outcomes and giving birth to the second child since the implementation of China's universal two-child policy have not been identified. METHODS: A large-scale based mental health survey was conducted between March 2017 and December 2018 in Suzhou, China. The survey evaluated the symptoms of anxiety, hypomania, depression and poor sleep quality among both pregnant and postpartum women. RESULTS: A total of 3113 questionnaires were collected, the prevalence of anxiety, hypomanic and depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality in our sample were 3.2% (95%CI: 2.6%-3.9%), 51.7% (95%CI: 49.9%-53.4%), 12.4% (95%CI: 11.3%-13.6%) and 37.8% (95%CI: 36.0%-39.5%), respectively. Logistic regression showed that giving birth to the second child was positively associated with women's age, and was negatively correlated with higher educational level and living in rented housing. Women with the second pregnancy or child were positively associated with anxiety symptoms in the whole sample (OR = 1.75, 95%CI: 1.11-2.75) and among prenatal women (OR = 2.11, 95%CI: 1.16-3.83), while it was inversely correlated with depressive symptoms among postpartum women (OR = 0.63, 95%CI: 0.41-0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Women giving birth a second time were more prone to have anxiety symptoms among the prenatal women and the whole sample, and less likely to have depressive symptoms among the postpartum women. Efficacious measures and interventions are essential to improve maternal mental health.
BACKGROUND: Poor mental health status among both pregnant and postpartum women is commonly reported worldwide. The associations between mental health outcomes and giving birth to the second child since the implementation of China's universal two-child policy have not been identified. METHODS: A large-scale based mental health survey was conducted between March 2017 and December 2018 in Suzhou, China. The survey evaluated the symptoms of anxiety, hypomania, depression and poor sleep quality among both pregnant and postpartum women. RESULTS: A total of 3113 questionnaires were collected, the prevalence of anxiety, hypomanic and depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality in our sample were 3.2% (95%CI: 2.6%-3.9%), 51.7% (95%CI: 49.9%-53.4%), 12.4% (95%CI: 11.3%-13.6%) and 37.8% (95%CI: 36.0%-39.5%), respectively. Logistic regression showed that giving birth to the second child was positively associated with women's age, and was negatively correlated with higher educational level and living in rented housing. Women with the second pregnancy or child were positively associated with anxiety symptoms in the whole sample (OR = 1.75, 95%CI: 1.11-2.75) and among prenatal women (OR = 2.11, 95%CI: 1.16-3.83), while it was inversely correlated with depressive symptoms among postpartum women (OR = 0.63, 95%CI: 0.41-0.99). CONCLUSIONS:Women giving birth a second time were more prone to have anxiety symptoms among the prenatal women and the whole sample, and less likely to have depressive symptoms among the postpartum women. Efficacious measures and interventions are essential to improve maternal mental health.