Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T04:27:04.286Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Observations on the epidemiology of post partum mental illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

P. F. Grundy  and
C. J. Roberts
P. F. Grundy
Affiliation:
Department of Community Medicine, Welsh National School of Medicine, Cardiff
C. J. Roberts
Affiliation:
Department of Community Medicine, Welsh National School of Medicine, Cardiff
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

This study is based on a sample of 35,486 consecutive confinements in Cardiff (1965–72) which gave rise to 67 cases of post partum mental illness. No difference was found between these cases and all resident Cardiff maternities for the same period in respect of social class, maternal parity, weight gain in pregnancy, length of gestation, birth weight, and sex of infant. A statistically significant cyclic variation in month of conception and date of birth was found with a peak frequency among conceptions in the first quarter of the year. The bearing this finding may have on the prevention of post partum mental illness and the implications of the observation that post partum mental illness and the functional psychoses have a remarkably similar temporal behaviour are discussed.

Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , August 1975 , pp. 286 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

British Medical Journal (1969). Leading article: Depression after childbirth. 1, 460–461.Google Scholar
Edwards, J. H. (1961). Seasonal incidence of congenital disease in Birmingham. Annals of Human Genetics, 25, 89–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graham, J. P. D. (1962). The Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute Poisoning, p. 28. Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Hewitt, D., Milner, J., Csima, A., and Pakula, A. (1971). On Edwards' criterion of seasonality and a non-parametric alternative. British Journal of Preventive amd Social Medicine, 25, 174–176.Google Scholar
Jacobson, L., Kaij, L., and Nilsson, A. (1965). Post-partum mental disorders in an unselected sample: frequency of symptoms and predisposing factors. British Medical Journal, 1, 1640–1643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaij, L., Jacobson, L., and Nilsson, A. (1966). Post-partum mental disorder in an unselected sample. The influence of parity. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 10, 317–325.Google Scholar
Lancet (1969). Editorial: Mental disorder and childbirth. 1, 563.Google Scholar
Osterman, E. (1963). Des états psychopathologiques du post-partum. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 39, Suppl. 169, 190–192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pitt, B. (1968). ‘Atypical’ depression following childbirth. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 1325–1335.Google Scholar
Protheroe, C. (1969). Puerperal psychoses: a long term study 1927–1961. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 9–30.Google Scholar
Roberts, C. J., Lowe, C. R., and Lloyd, S. (1972). Cyclic variations in date of last menstrual period of mothers of infants with congenital malformations in South Wales, 1964–66. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 26, 212–218.Google ScholarPubMed
Ryle, A. (1961). The psychological disturbances associated with 345 pregnancies in 137 women. Journal of Mental Science, 107, 279–286.Google Scholar
Sim, M. (1963). Abortion and the psychiatrist. British Medical Journal, 2, 145–148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sub-Committee on Classification of Mental Disorders (1968). A Glossary of Mental Disorders. General Register Office Studies on Medical and Population Subjects No. 22. HMSO: London.Google Scholar
Tetlow, C. (1955). Psychoses of childbearing. Journal of Mental Science, 101, 629–639.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tod, E. D. M. (1964). Puerperal depression. Lancet, 2, 1264–1266.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed