Fatores associados a sintomas depressivos em mães de recém-nascidos pré-termo de muito baixo peso: 36 meses de seguimento

Abstract

The survival rate of very low birth weight preterm infants (VLBW) has increased markedly in recent decades but has not been accompanied by a reduction in prematurity related morbidities. Preterm birth is reported as an important factor of imbalance in maternal emotional health and in their family and social relationships. Maternal emotional impairment represents a potential risk to child's neuropsychological development. Mothers of VLBW infants have a higher incidence of anxiety and depression symptoms as well as a worse perception of well-being than mothers and full-term infants. However, the association between comorbidities related to prematurity (bronchopulmonary dysplasia, retinopathy and peri-intraventricular hemorrhage) and the severity of maternal depressive symptoms are still unknown. The objective of the present study was to verify the intensity of depressive symptoms in mothers of VLBW infants for 36 months after delivery and its possible association with mothers’ quality of life and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and with VLBW infants’ clinical characteristics. Seventy five mothers of VLBW infants (≤ 34 gestational age weeks and birth weight ≤ 1,500g) admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) participated in a longitudinal study and responded to the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and WHOQOL-Bref, at six times over 36 months postpartum. The factorial analysis was used to identify possible BDI clusters and multiple linear regression was used to evaluate the contribution of each independent variable in the variation of the overall BDI score. The BDI factorial analysis identified the presence of two factors: low self-esteem / dissatisfaction and somatic symptoms. Mothers’ median BDI scores were higher (p = 0.03) at discharge (9.0; 0-56) than 6 months postpartum (6.0; 0-27) and remained stable with twelve (5.0, 0-36), eighteen (7.0, 0-33), 24 (7.0, 0-33) and 36 (6.5, 0-34) months. The somatic symptoms cluster meadian scores were higher (p = 0.00) at the time of maternal discharge (6.0, 0-23) and at six months (5.0; 0-17) than twelve (4, 0, 0-11), eighteen (3.0; 0-13), 24 (3.5; 0-16) and 36 (3,0; 0-15) months postpartum. The regression models explained a large part of the BDI scores variation in all study periods (0.19 ≤ adjusted R2 ≤ 0.64, p <0.01). The WHOQOL-Bref domains (physical, psychological, social and environment) were the variables that explained the variations in the overall BDI scores (-0.34 ≤β≤-0.12; p <0.01). Mothers of VLBW infants present greater intensity of depressive symptoms at the moment of their hospital discharge. The presence of depressive symptoms is mainly associated with poorer quality of life in VLBW infants’ mothers.