title: Adverse childhood life events and postpartum psychosis in bipolar disorder.
abstract: Women with bipolar disorder are at increased risk of postpartum psychosis. Adverse childhood life events have been associated with depression in the postpartum period, but have been little studied in relation to postpartum psychosis. In this study we investigated whether adverse childhood life events are associated with postpartum psychosis in a large sample of women with bipolar I disorder.
  
  
  
  Participants were 432 parous women with DSM-IV bipolar I disorder recruited into the Bipolar Disorder Research Network (www.BDRN.org). Diagnoses and lifetime psychopathology, including perinatal episodes, were obtained via a semi-structured interview (Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry; Wing et al., 1990) and case-notes. Adverse childhood life events were assessed via self-report and case-notes, and compared between women with postpartum psychosis (n=208) and those without a lifetime history of perinatal mood episodes (n=224).
  
  
  
  There was no significant difference in the rate of any adverse childhood life event, including childhood sexual abuse, or in the total number of adverse childhood life events between women who experienced postpartum psychosis and those without a lifetime history of perinatal mood episodes, even after controlling for demographic and clinical differences between the groups.
  
  
  
  Adverse childhood life events were assessed in adulthood and therefore may be subject to recall errors.
  
  
  
  We found no evidence for an association between adverse childhood life events and the occurrence of postpartum psychosis. Our data suggest that, unlike postpartum depression, childhood adversity does not play a significant role in the triggering of postpartum psychosis in women with bipolar disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Health & Society, University of Worcester, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Health & Society, University of Worcester, UK.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gordon-Smith
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychological Medicine & Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Florio
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychological Medicine & Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University, UK.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Forty
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychological Medicine & Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University, UK.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Craddock
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Health & Society, University of Worcester, UK.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychological Medicine & Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University, UK. Electronic address: jonesir1@cf.ac.uk.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000069586:Adult Survivors of Child Adverse Events / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D049590:Postpartum Period; D011247:Pregnancy; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011644:Puerperal Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012306:Risk; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adverse childhood life events; Bipolar disorder; Childhood adversity; Postpartum psychosis; Risk factors