Maternal psychologic problems increased the risk of childhood atopic dermatitis.

Background Little is known about the effect of postnatal maternal psychologic problems on the development of childhood atopic disorders. Objectives To assess the association between early life maternal psychologic problems and atopic dermatitis ( AD) in children in a national birth cohort. Methods We used multistage, stratified systematic sampling to recruit 24,200 mother-newborn pairs from the Taiwan national birth registration. Maternal psychologic problems and potential confounders were gathered by the standard questionnaire at 6 months old. At 3 years of age, information about the development of AD was assessed by International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood via home interviews. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate the association of postnatal maternal psychologic problems (postpartum depression (PPD) and maternal mental health index) and AD. Results The prevalence of physician-diagnosed AD was 10.5%. PPD increased the risk of subsequent physician-diagnosed AD in children after adjusting for potential confounders and other maternal mental health index ( aOR = 1.42, 95% CI = 1.21-1.66). We observed that the risk of AD associated with PPD was not confounded by other social demographic factors such as maternal AD, maternal education, family income, breastfeeding, day care, and number of siblings. Conclusions Postpartum depression increased the risk of childhood AD even when other maternal mental health index and social demographic factors are considered. Early intervention of PPD might be helpful for AD prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]