| Mental health linked to stillbirth | Posted on 10/11/2008 in Pharmaceutical Government/ NHS related news Women with a history of serious mental illness are at least twice as likely to give birth to babies that are stillborn or die within the first month of life, according to research.
Researchers at The University of Manchester found women with affective disorders such as schizophrenia were more than twice as likely to give birth to babies with congenital abnormalities, leading to stillbirth.
The risk of stillbirth due to complications during delivery among women with drug and alcohol problems was more than double that of healthy women.
Lead researcher, Dr Kathryn Abel, said: "We found that the chances of stillborn or newborn death from all causes were greater for babies whose mothers had a serious mental-health illness.
"The risk of stillbirth for women with schizophrenia was twice as high than healthy mothers, while women with affective disorders were also more than twice as likely to give birth to stillborn babies."
Women with other psychotic illnesses, including mood-affective disorders, manic depression and drug and alcohol addiction, were also shown to have a much greater risk of stillborn and newborn deaths.
"For most causes of death, offspring of women with schizophrenia had no greater risk of stillbirth or neonatal death than other psychiatrically-ill mothers," said Dr Abel, who is based in the University's School of Medicine.
"The fact that the link between the cause of death and the illness of the mother varies, suggests that factors other than the mental disorder itself are involved.
"Lifestyle, such as smoking and poor diet, and less antenatal care and poverty can also increase the chances of complication during childbirth."
The scientists said the findings suggest further resources are needed to support vulnerable women and their children.Other news stories from 10/11/2008
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