Abstract
Previous studies showed that mothers of infants selected by a validated predictive model (PM) of morbidity, have features suggestive of psychiatric disorders. During the survey of 49 infants who had a “positive” PM (January to July 1991, who lived in the Southeastern area of Santiago, 28 mothers (age 16-40 years) agreed to be evaluated. Goldberg's General Health Questionaire in its 30-question version modified and validated in Chile was applied by an experienced interviewer. The cut-off point was set at 11/12, as described by M.Trucco in his validation study. In 15/28 (53.6%) of the mothers the score exceeded 12 points and were defined as “cases”. Mean, median and range were 10.3, 12, 0-26, respectively. Highest frequencies of response were related to irritability and bad mood, feeling of depression and sadness and headaches (anxiety, depression and somatization). At the begining of the follow up, 34.6% of infants had Weight/Age ≤90% (NCHS), of whom 78% were offspring of “cases”. Of the children who had a total of 20 days or more of diarrhea during the observation period, 36% and 18% corresponded to mothers who were “cases” and “no-cases”, respectively (relative risk = 1.73). Results suggest that a high percentage of these mothers Buffer from psychological disturbances that justify further psychiatric evaluation.
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Humphreys, D., Araya, M., Espinoza, J. et al. EVALUATION OF MENTAL HEALTH OF MOTHERS OF HIGH RISK INFANTS. PRELIMINARY RESULTS. Pediatr Res 32, 741 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199212000-00046
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199212000-00046