25% of children have a mother with mental illness

According to a team of researchers at the University of Manchester, one in four British children under the age of 16 has a mother with a mental illness.

According to the study published in Lancet Public Health, just over half of British children will have had a mother with a mental illness at the age of 16.

The study also revealed significant regional variation: it found that the proportion of children with a mother with mental illness was the highest in Northern Ireland at 29.8%.

Scotland (26.0%), East Midlands (25.4%), South West (25.3%) and North West England (25.1%) also been estimated. It was lowest in London (16.8%) and South East England (21.2%).

The regions of the United Kingdom where the prevalence of maternal mental illness is highest coincide with areas where adult deprivation and mental illness rates are highest, as has been reported by the United States. showed previous research.

Children born in poverty or the children of teenage mothers were more likely to be exposed to the mother's mental illness.

The study examined children aged 0-16 who were born between 1 January 1991 and 31 December 2015 and enrolled in the Primary Care Clinical Practice Research Database between 2005 and 2017.

They identified 783,710 children registered in the UK CPRD link link database and included 547,747 children and 381,685 mothers in their badysis.

Matthias Pierce, author of the study, from the University of Manchester, said:

"In addition to the consequences of a mother with mental health problems, these children face many challenges, including living in poverty and having an adolescent parent.

"While many of these children are very resilient, they are more likely to suffer from a range of negative life outcomes, including poorer physical and mental health, low levels of education, and poor health. poor quality of life. "

The study also revealed that the number of children exposed to maternal mental illness had increased significantly between 2005 and 2017.

The number of children of mothers with depression or anxiety increased from 22.2% between 2005 and 2007 to 25.1% between 2015 and 2017.

Although serious mental illnesses are rare, the number of children exposed to mothers treated for psychosis has increased dramatically, as has the number of children exposed to mothers with personality disorders.

Professor Kathryn Abel of the University of Manchester said:

"Our job is not to stigmatize women with mental health problems, but to recognize the numbers and needs of these children.

"This study shows how reliable and detailed information provides vital information for researchers, policy makers, clinical curators, and education and health service providers.

"The timely and appropriate reallocation of funds to areas of greatest need is now needed to make health care and health research funding more representative of the disease burden in the country."

The paper is available to read here.