MedWire News: New mothers with psychiatric disorders, particularly those with bipolar affective disorder, face an increased risk for psychiatric readmission in the first month after childbirth, study results show.
However, the researchers found that, overall, new mothers with mental health disorders were less likely to be readmitted to psychiatric hospital than women with mental health disorders who were not mothers.
“It has been suggested that the risk of inpatient psychiatric readmissions is elevated during the postpartum period,” write Trine Munk-Olsen, from the University of Aarhus in Denmark, and team in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
However, they add: “To our knowledge, no prior study has compared mothers and non-mothers [with psychiatric disorders] to determine whether the risk of readmission differs between these two groups of women.”
To address this, the team used the Danish Civil Registration System and the Danish Psychiatric Central Register to assess data on readmission rates among 28,124 women with mental health disorders between 1973 and 2005. Of these women, 10,218 became mothers during the period studied.
The researchers found that in new mothers, the period of highest risk for psychiatric readmission was 10–19 days postpartum. Indeed, new mothers were 2.71 times more likely to be readmitted during this period than women who were not mothers.
This risk was highest among new mothers with a diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder, who were 37.22 times more likely to be readmitted 10–19 days postpartum than women who were not mothers.
However, the risk for readmission among new mothers fell significantly after 1 month postpartum. Indeed, non-mothers were 1.53 times more likely to be readmitted to psychiatric hospital after this time than new mothers.
Munk-Olsen and team conclude: “Mothers with mental disorders have lower readmission rates compared with women with mental disorders who do not have children.
“However, the first month after childbirth is associated with increased risk of psychiatric readmission, and women with a history of bipolar affective disorder are at particular risk of postpartum psychiatric readmissions.”
They add: “Our findings highlight the need for careful clinical monitoring and provision of relevant psychoeducation to women with a history of bipolar disorder who are pregnant or considering pregnancy.”
MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an independent clinical news service provided by Current Medicine Group, a part of Springer Science+Business Media. © Current Medicine Group Ltd; 2009
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