title: Trajectories of maternal depression and offspring psychopathology at 6 years: 2004 Pelotas cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Few studies have addressed the course and severity of maternal depression and its effects on child psychiatric disorders from a longitudinal perspective. This study aimed to identify longitudinal patterns of maternal depression and to evaluate whether distinct depression trajectories predict particular psychiatric disorders in offspring.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cohort of 4231 births followed-up in the city of Pelotas, Brazil. Maternal depressive symptoms were assessed with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 3, 12, 24 and 48 months and 6 years after delivery. Psychiatric disorders in 6-year-old children were evaluated through the development and well-being assessment (DAWBA) instrument. Trajectories of maternal depression were calculated using a group-based modelling approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified five trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms: a "low" trajectory (34.8%), a "moderate low" (40.9%), a "increasing" (9.0%), a "decreasing" (9.9%), and a "high-chronic" trajectory (5.4%). The probability of children having any psychiatric disorder, as well as both internalizing and externalizing problems, increased as we moved from the "low" to the "high-chronic" trajectory. These differences were not explained by maternal and child characteristics examined in multivariate analyses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data on maternal depression at 3-months was available on only a sub-sample. In addition, we had to rely on maternal report of child's behavior alone.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study revealed an additive effect on child outcome of maternal depression over time. We identified a group of mothers with chronic and severe symptoms of depression throughout the first six years of the child life and for this group child psychiatric outcome was particularly compromised.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil; Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: amatija@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matijasevich
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK; Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Anselmi
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Aluísio J D
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Barros
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil; Post-Graduate Program in Health and Behavior, Catholic University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernando C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Barros
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Iná S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Santos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Children; Cohort study; Development and well-being assessment; Group-based modelling; Maternal postnatal depression; Mental health