Maternal mental health and child nutritional status in an urban slum in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Poor mental health may diminish a mother’s capacity to adequately care for her child, resulting in a negative impact on the child’s nutrition. This study aims to determine the association between maternal mental health and child nutritional status in a poor urban population in Bangladesh. We carried out a cross-sectional study among 264 mother-child pairs in an urban slum area of Bangladesh. The Self-Reporting Questionnaire-20 (SRQ-20) was used to assess maternal mental health. An SRQ-20 score ≥7 was considered a common mental disorder (CMD). Anthropometric measurements were performed to assess nutritional status of the children. The prevalence of maternal CMD was 46.2%. Maternal CMD was associated with poorer child feeding practice (p<0.001), poorer hygiene practice (p<0.001), poorer preventive care service use (p = 0.016), and suffering from diarrheal diseases (p = 0.049). The prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight in children was 44.3%, 18.2% and 33.7%, respectively. A poorer child feeding practice was associated with wasting (p = 0.004) and underweight (p<0.001) but not with stunting. Poorer hygiene practices and suffering from diarrheal diseases were associated with stunting and underweight, but not with wasting. In multivariable analysis, maternal CMD was associated with child wasting (adjusted odds ratio, aOR = 2.25, 95% CI = 1.15–4.43). The association between maternal CMD and child underweight found in the bivariate analysis was attenuated and no longer statistically significant after multivariable analysis (aOR = 1.77, 95% CI = 0.94–3.33). No statistically significant association was observed between maternal CMD and stunting in this study (aOR = 1.46, 95% CI = 0.84–2.54). Maternal mental health affects nutritional status of the children where child feeding practice, hygiene practice and preventive care use might play a role. Interventions to address maternal mental health in child nutrition programs might improve child nutritional status.

Household food insecurity, low maternal social support and maternal common mental disorders in East Mamprusi Municipality, Ghana

“…Household food insecurity was shown to be significantly associated with CMD in the current study even when social support and other variables were adjusted for. This observation is in line with the findings of other studies in which maternal mental health status was significantly associated with food security [37,52,55,56]. Concerns over provision of food or household food insecurity or inability to afford basic needs including food may increase cognitive load acting as a stressor and increasing the risk of CMD in mothers [57,58].…”

Anxiety, Depression, and Quality of Life Among Infertile Women: A Case-Control Study

“…Lakatos et al found that 44.8% of moderate to severe depression in cases with infertility, while a high level of anxiety was reported in around 40% of cases. Hasan et al evaluated the mental health status of Bangladeshi women undergoing fertility treatment and reported a high prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress (59.7%, 55.0%, and 48.7%, respectively) [ 17 ]. Shahraki et al found that women with primary infertility suffered more from depression than those with secondary infertility [ 18 ].…”

Accuracy of Mid-Upper Arm Circumference for Detecting Acute Malnutrition in Children Aged 6–59 Months in an Urban Slum in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

“…This study used a cross-sectional dataset collected to investigate the association between maternal mental health and child nutritional status [ 12 ]. The study was undertaken from September to November 2013 in an urban slum area at Kamrangichar in Dhaka, Bangladesh.…”