Newswise — NEW YORK (July 09, 2013) – Mothers who experience depressive symptoms often display obesity-promoting practices and have children who are overweight or obese, according to a new study by investigators at The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM). These data recently were published in the journal Academic Pediatrics.
The study compared moms’ self-reported depressive symptoms, such as loss of interest, fatigue, low energy and poor concentration, with their children’s Body Mass Index (BMI) at age five, as documented in their medical records. Mothers reported depressive symptoms 23.4 percent of the time, with those reporting moderate to severe depressive symptoms more likely to have an overweight or obese five-year-old child compared to mothers without depressive symptoms.
“We see a high prevalence of both depression and obesity in our practice and previous studies have shown a correlation,” said Rachel S. Gross, M.D., M.S., FAAP, attending pediatrician, CHAM, assistant professor of pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and lead author of the study. “We wanted to formally investigate the link and expand our current understanding of maternal depression, the mother–child relationship and associated outcomes.”
The study cohort included 401 mother-child pairs, of which 288 children had documented height/weight status at age five in their medical records. Researchers conducted a 30 minute interview with moms (primarily low-income, Hispanic and black mothers in the Bronx) whose children had received care at Montefiore’s Comprehensive Family Care Center, asking questions about mom’s mental health and their children’s eating habits including mealtime practices and feeding styles.
Data shows that mothers with depressive symptoms, who are likely to have less than a high school education and be unemployed, tend to display permissive parenting where they place fewer demands on their children. They are less responsive to their child’s needs, choosing parenting strategies for coping that require less cognitive effort and often neglect to set limits on the child’s behavior. They were more likely to have children who consumed more sweetened drinks, infrequently had family meals, more commonly ate at restaurants and had fewer regular breakfasts, than children with mothers without depressive symptoms. Depressed moms also were less likely to model healthy eating than non-depressed mothers.
Feeding practices, such as preparing daily breakfast, modeling healthy eating, and setting limits on the child’s diet, all require active maternal involvement, possibly explaining why these practices were less common among depressed mothers.
Researchers also investigated the activity levels and sleep patterns of all 401 children and found that children of mothers with depressive symptoms slept fewer hours per day and had less outdoor play time than those with mothers without depressive symptoms. Inadequate sleep has been linked to increased risk of child obesity and limited daily outdoor play time can also impact weight.
“Our findings suggest that maternal depression plays a role in childhood obesity and supports the need for educational resources for low-income families to encourage active engagement and positive feeding practices,” Dr. Gross said. “In order to reverse the national obesity trend, we believe that providing access to mental health specialists in the pediatric primary care setting may represent an opportunity for early childhood obesity prevention. This could have a long term impact on the obesity epidemic, especially among ethnic minority, low-income families, who are known to be at the highest risk for both early child obesity and maternal depression.”
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About Montefiore Medical Center As the University Hospital for Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore is a premier academic medical center nationally renowned for its clinical excellence, scientific discovery and commitment to its community. Recognized among the top hospitals nationally and regionally by U.S. News & World Report, Montefiore provides compassionate, patient- and family-centered care and educates the healthcare professionals of tomorrow. The Children's Hospital at Montefiore is consistently named in U.S. News' "America's Best Children's Hospitals," and is second among those in the New York metro area. With four hospitals, 1,491 beds and 90,000 annual admissions, Montefiore is an integrated health system seamlessly linked by advanced technology. State-of-the-art primary and specialty care is provided through a network of more than 130 locations across the region, including the largest school health program in the nation and a home health program. Montefiore's partnership with Einstein advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. The medical center derives its inspiration for excellence from its patients and community, and continues to be on the frontlines of developing innovative approaches to care. For more information please visit www.montefiore.org and www.montekids.org. Follow us on Twitter; like us on Facebook; view us on YouTube.
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