Effects of parental mental illness on children's physical health: systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

BackgroundChildren of parents with mental disorder face multiple challenges.AimsTo summarise evidence about parental mental disorder and child physical health.MethodWe searched seven databases for cohort or case–control studies quantifying associations between parental mental disorders (substance use, psychotic, mood, anxiety, obsessive–compulsive, post-traumatic stress and eating) and offspring physical health. Studies were excluded if: they reported perinatal outcomes only (<28 days) or outcomes after age 18; they measured outcome prior to exposure; or the sample was drawn from diseased children. A meta-analysis was conducted. The protocol was registered on the PROSPERO database (CRD42017072620).ResultsSearches revealed 15 945 non-duplicated studies. Forty-one studies met our inclusion criteria: ten investigated accidents/injuries; eight asthma; three other atopic diseases; ten overweight/obesity; ten studied other illnesses (eight from low-and middle-income countries (LMICs)). Half of the studies investigated maternal perinatal mental health, 17% investigated paternal mental disorder and 87% examined maternal depression. Meta-analysis revealed significantly higher rates of injuries (OR = 1.15, 95% CI 1.04–1.26), asthma (OR = 1.26, 95% CI 1.12–1.41) and outcomes recorded in LMICs (malnutrition: OR = 2.55, 95% CI 1.74–3.73; diarrhoea: OR = 2.16, 95% CI 1.65–2.84). Evidence was inconclusive for obesity and other atopic disorders.ConclusionsChildren of parents with mental disorder have health disadvantages; however, the evidence base is limited to risks for offspring following postnatal depression in mothers and there is little focus on fathers in the literature. Understanding the physical health risks of these vulnerable children is vital to improving lives. Future work should focus on discovering mechanisms linking physical and mental health across generations.Declaration of interestNone.

Parental mental health conditions and use of healthcare services in children the first year of life – a register-based, nationwide study

“…Third, children of parents with poor mental health might be more likely to have poor health. This has been con rmed by a recent systematic review and metaanalysis [16]. A Danish study found a higher use of primary healthcare as well as a higher rate of positive tests (C-reactive protein, Strep A test, Urinary stix) in children of mothers with depression which could be interpreted as a higher rate of infectious disease [2].…”

“…This study showed an association between paternal mental health condition and the use of healthcare services by a child younger than 12 months. This highlights the important role of the father's mental health which is often overlooked in research [16] and in society generally [39].…”

“…These consequences include the increased use of healthcare services [1,2,11,[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Although it is generally acknowledged that both fathers and mothers in uence their children's health and lives [12][13][14][15][16], the father's role has rarely been examined. In most studies of child healthcare, the father's mental health are not included at all [1,3,6,7,[9][10][11].…”

Does Prenatal Anxiety or Depression Symptoms Associate With Asthma or Atopic Diseases Throughout the Offspring's Childhood? An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…The main focus of the previous meta-analysis is to explore the effects of parental mental illness on children's physical health, after the research, they revealed that prenatal mental disorder had contributed to the poor fetal growth which further suggested that the impact of the maternal psychotic disease during pregnancy on children [34]. To compare with the previous study, more attention is being paid to the impact of maternal mental health during pregnancy on childhood systemic autoimmune diseases by the present meta-analysis.…”

Maternal depression trajectories from 3 months to 11 years postpartum and offspring body composition in early adolescence

“…the offspring's proper development and growth (9)(10)(11)(12) . Previous reviews of the literature on this matter have not been able to reach any conclusions regarding data on the growth and body composition of the offspring of mothers with depressive symptoms (13)(14)(15) . Weight-and heightdeficient growth have been observed over the first year of life among the children of depressed mothers, while linear growth is possibly impaired for up to 5 years after birth (13) .…”