title: Maternal mental health and nutritional status of six-month-old infants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze if maternal mental health is associated with infant nutritional status at six month of age.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study with 228 six-month-old infants who used primary health care units of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Southeastern Brazil. Mean weight-for-length and mean weight-for-age were expressed in z-scores considering the 2006 World Health Organization reference curves. Maternal mental health was measured by the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. The following cutoff points were used: ≥ 3 for common mental disorders, ≥ 5 for more severe mental disorders, and ≥ 9 for depression. The statistical analysis employed adjusted linear regression models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of common mental disorders, more severe mental disorders and depression was 39.9%, 23.7%, and 8.3%, respectively. Children of women with more severe mental disorders had, on average, a weight-for-length 0.37 z-scores lower than children of women without this health harm (p = 0.026). We also observed that the weight-for-length indicator of children of depressed mothers was, on average, 0.67 z-scores lower than that of children of nondepressed women (p = 0.010). Maternal depression was associated with lower mean values of weight-for-age z-scores (p = 0.041).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Maternal mental health is positively related to the inadequacy of the nutritional status of infants at six months.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Medicina Social, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: Bruna Kulik
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Hassan
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Epidemiologia, Instituto de Medicina Social, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: Guilherme Loureiro
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Werneck
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Nutrição Social, Instituto de Nutrição, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: Maria Helena
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Hasselmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006130:Growth Disorders; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007228:Infant Nutrition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires