Postpartum depression and child growth in Tanzania: a cohort study

Objective To examine the association between postpartum depression and child growth in a Tanzanian birth cohort. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Moshi, Tanzania. Population Pregnant women over the age of 18 who sought antenatal care at two health clinics in Moshi, and the children they were pregnant with, were assessed for inclusion in this study. Methods The women were interviewed twice during pregnancy and three times after birth, the final follow up taking place 2–3 years postpartum. Signs of postpartum depression were assessed approximately 40 days postpartum with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Main outcome measures Child growth was assessed with anthropometric measurements at 2–3 years of age and expressed as mean z ‐scores. Results In all, 1128 mother–child pairs were followed throughout the duration of the study. In total, 12.2% of the mothers showed signs of postpartum depression. Adjusted mean height‐for‐age z ‐score ( HAZ ) was significantly lower at 2–3 years follow up for children of mothers with postpartum depression than for children of mothers without (difference in HAZ : −0.32, 95% CI −0.49 to −0.15). Adjusted mean weight‐for‐height z ‐score ( WHZ ) was significantly increased for the children exposed to postpartum depression (difference in WHZ : 0.21, 95% CI 0.02–0.40), whereas there was no significant difference in adjusted weight‐for‐age z ‐score ( WAZ ; difference in WAZ : −0.04, 95% C I −0.20 to 0.12). Conclusions We found that postpartum depressive symptoms predicted decreased linear height in children at 2–3 years of age and slightly increased weight‐for‐height. Tweetable abstract Postpartum depression in Tanzanian mothers is associated with impaired child growth at 2–3 years of age.