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The social and obstetric correlates of psychiatric admission in the puerperium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

R. E. Kendell ,
D. Rennie ,
J. A. Clarke  and
C. Dean
R. E. Kendell*
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
D. Rennie
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
J. A. Clarke
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
C. Dean
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
*
1Address for correspondence: Professor R. E. Kendell, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh EH10 SHF.
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Synopsis

Computer linkage of obstetric and psychiatric record systems made it possible to identify all women resident in the city of Edinburgh who had given birth to live or stillborn children in 1971–7 and to study (a) the distribution of psychiatric admissions relative to the time of childbirth and (b) the correlates of psychiatric admission in the first 90 days after childbirth. Having a first baby, being unmarried and undergoing Caesarian section were all associated with an increased risk of admission; twin births, perinatal death and maternal age were not. It is difficult to account for these and other established relationships purely in psychological or purely in somatic terms, suggesting that influences of both kinds are probably involved in the genesis of puerperal disorders.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , May 1981 , pp. 341 - 350
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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