Depression Symptoms Among Mothers Associated With More Emergency Department Visits for Infants

A new study led by Slawa Rokicki, an assistant professor at the Rutgers University School of Public Health in New Jersey, has found infants of new mothers who exhibit mild to severe perinatal depressive symptoms are more likely to visit an emergency department in their first year of life.

For her study, Dr. Rokicki cross-referenced birth record data from 2016 to 2018 with hospital discharge records for infants over their first year of life. The results found that infants of mothers with moderate to severe depressive symptoms were 21 percent more likely to visit the emergency department postpartum than mothers with no symptoms. Mothers with mild symptoms of depression were 10 percent more likely to bring their infant to an emergency department.

When specifically examining infants whose delivery was paid for by Medicaid, these children were 43 percent more likely to need an emergency department visit if their mother displayed moderate to severe symptoms, and 19 percent higher if their mother showed mild symptoms compared to mothers with no symptoms of depression.

Dr. Rokicki believes her findings point towards the need for hospitals to implement universal screening for postpartum depression for mothers at the time of delivery, so they can be aware of the risk before they leave the hospital. Additionally, she suggests healthcare professionals implement routine screenings in the first year postpartum and focus on connecting mothers with mental health resources when needed.

Dr. Rokicki joined the Rutgers University faculty in 2019. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, where she majored in mathematics and holds a mater’s degree in global health and a Ph.D. in healthy policy from Harvard University.