Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Well-being Study (MPEWS): Understanding Maternal Mental Health, Fetal Programming and Child Development. Study Design and Cohort Profile

Overview

Journal Int J Methods Psychiatr Res

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2017 Jan 26

PMID 28120519

Citations 8

Authors

Megan Galbally

Marinus van IJzendoorn

Michael Permezel

Richard Saffery

Martha Lappas

Joanne Ryan

Elisabeth van Rossum

Andrew R Johnson

Douglas Teti

Andrew J Lewis

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Maternal mental health represents a significant global health burden. The Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Well-being Study (MPEWS) was established to provide a comprehensive investigation of early developmental mechanisms and modifiers for maternal, fetal and child emotional well-being. MPEWS is a prospective, longitudinal study from pregnancy to 36 months postpartum that includes diagnostic measures of maternal mental health, observational measures of the mother-infant relationship, measures of child development, and repeat biological sampling. A total of 282 pregnant women were recruited in early pregnancy from the Mercy Hospital for Women in Melbourne, Australia, including 52 women on antidepressant medication, 31 non-medicated women meeting diagnostic criteria for current unipolar depression or dysthymia, and 65 women with a past history of depression. Sample recruitment characteristics included a mean age of 31 years and average gestation of 16 weeks. The MPEWS cohort was comparable to national averages for Australia on key pregnancy and birth variables. Those participants taking antidepressant medication had higher mean Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) scores than the cohort as a whole but were comparable on other key variables. The MPEWS protocol provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the impact of pregnancy mental health on future maternal mental health and child development to aid the development of evidence-based interventions. The study is open for collaborative proposals via approach to the principal investigators.

Citing Articles

Mother-Infant Interaction and Maternal Postnatal Psychological Distress Associate with Child's Social-Emotional Development During Early Childhood: A FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.

Lahtela H, Flykt M, Nolvi S, Kataja E, Eskola E, Tervahartiala K Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2024; .

PMID: 38625659 DOI: 10.1007/s10578-024-01694-2.

Intimate partner violence across pregnancy and the postpartum and the relationship to depression and perinatal wellbeing: findings from a pregnancy cohort study.

Galbally M, Watson S, MacMillan K, Sevar K, Howard L Arch Womens Ment Health. 2024; 27(5):807-815.

PMID: 38459991 PMC: 11405469. DOI: 10.1007/s00737-024-01455-z.

The Relationship Between Early Term Birth and the Risk of Later Childhood Mental Disorders Within a Pregnancy Cohort.

Galbally M, Watson S, Newnham J, White S, Watkins A, Lewis A Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2024; .

PMID: 38165581 DOI: 10.1007/s10578-023-01643-5.

The trajectory of maternal perinatal depressive symptoms predicts executive function in early childhood.

Power J, Watson S, Chen W, Lewis A, IJzendoorn M, Galbally M Psychol Med. 2023; 53(16):7953-7963.

PMID: 37781906 PMC: 10755237. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291723002118.

Parenting stress, maternal depression and child mental health in a Melbourne cohort before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Galbally M, Watson S, Lewis A, van IJzendoorn M J Paediatr Child Health. 2022; 58(11):2051-2057.

PMID: 36371627 PMC: 9537807. DOI: 10.1111/jpc.16155.

References

Goodman S, Gotlib I . Risk for psychopathology in the children of depressed mothers: a developmental model for understanding mechanisms of transmission. Psychol Rev. 1999; 106(3):458-90. DOI: 10.1037/0033-295x.106.3.458. View

Kerstjens J, Bos A, ten Vergert E, de Meer G, Butcher P, Reijneveld S . Support for the global feasibility of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire as developmental screener. Early Hum Dev. 2009; 85(7):443-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2009.03.001. View

Sullivan P, Neale M, Kendler K . Genetic epidemiology of major depression: review and meta-analysis. Am J Psychiatry. 2000; 157(10):1552-62. DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.157.10.1552. View

Condon J . The assessment of antenatal emotional attachment: development of a questionnaire instrument. Br J Med Psychol. 1993; 66(2):167-83. DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8341.1993.tb01739.x. View

Einarson A . Abrupt discontinuation of psychotropic drugs following confirmation of pregnancy: a risky practice. J Obstet Gynaecol Can. 2006; 27(11):1019-22. DOI: 10.1016/s1701-2163(16)30500-x. View

Galbally M, Lewis A, Buist A . Developmental outcomes of children exposed to antidepressants in pregnancy. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2011; 45(5):393-9. DOI: 10.3109/00048674.2010.549995. View

Luby J, Gaffrey M, Tillman R, April L, Belden A . Trajectories of preschool disorders to full DSM depression at school age and early adolescence: continuity of preschool depression. Am J Psychiatry. 2014; 171(7):768-76. PMC: 4103647. DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2014.13091198. View

Lewis A, Galbally M, Gannon T, Symeonides C . Early life programming as a target for prevention of child and adolescent mental disorders. BMC Med. 2014; 12:33. PMC: 3932730. DOI: 10.1186/1741-7015-12-33. View

Seth S, Lewis A, Saffery R, Lappas M, Galbally M . Maternal Prenatal Mental Health and Placental 11β-HSD2 Gene Expression: Initial Findings from the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study. Int J Mol Sci. 2015; 16(11):27482-96. PMC: 4661892. DOI: 10.3390/ijms161126034. View

10.

Deave T, Heron J, Evans J, Emond A . The impact of maternal depression in pregnancy on early child development. BJOG. 2008; 115(8):1043-51. DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2008.01752.x. View

11.

Dennis C, Ross L, Grigoriadis S . Psychosocial and psychological interventions for treating antenatal depression. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007; (3):CD006309. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006309.pub2. View

12.

Galbally M, Lewis A, Lum J, Buist A . Serotonin discontinuation syndrome following in utero exposure to antidepressant medication: prospective controlled study. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2009; 43(9):846-54. DOI: 10.1080/00048670903107583. View

13.

Finnegan L, Connaughton Jr J, KRON R, EMICH J . Neonatal abstinence syndrome: assessment and management. Addict Dis. 1975; 2(1-2):141-58. View

14.

Dencker A, Taft C, Bergqvist L, Lilja H, Berg M . Childbirth experience questionnaire (CEQ): development and evaluation of a multidimensional instrument. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2010; 10:81. PMC: 3008689. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2393-10-81. View

15.

Buysse D, Reynolds 3rd C, Monk T, BERMAN S, Kupfer D . The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index: a new instrument for psychiatric practice and research. Psychiatry Res. 1989; 28(2):193-213. DOI: 10.1016/0165-1781(89)90047-4. View

16.

Sadeh A . A brief screening questionnaire for infant sleep problems: validation and findings for an Internet sample. Pediatrics. 2004; 113(6):e570-7. DOI: 10.1542/peds.113.6.e570. View

17.

OConnor T, Heron J, Golding J, Beveridge M, Glover V . Maternal antenatal anxiety and children's behavioural/emotional problems at 4 years. Report from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Br J Psychiatry. 2002; 180:502-8. DOI: 10.1192/bjp.180.6.502. View

18.

Dennis C, Dowswell T . Psychosocial and psychological interventions for preventing postpartum depression. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013; (2):CD001134. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001134.pub3. View

19.

Bennett H, Einarson A, Taddio A, Koren G, Einarson T . Prevalence of depression during pregnancy: systematic review. Obstet Gynecol. 2004; 103(4):698-709. DOI: 10.1097/01.AOG.0000116689.75396.5f. View

20.

Galbally M, Lewis A, Buist A . Child developmental outcomes in preschool children following antidepressant exposure in pregnancy. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2015; 49(7):642-50. DOI: 10.1177/0004867415569800. View