Maternal common mental disorder over time and asthma control: The role of social support

Abstract

Background Despite therapeutic advances, asthma prevalence remains high. Psychosocial factors, including maternal mental disorders, may be involved. This study aims to evaluate the association of maternal common mental disorders (CMDs) and their change over time with asthma morbidity in the child and to observe the effect of social support on this association. Methods This prospective study involved 189 dyads of mothers and their asthmatic children aged between 2 and 14 years, assisted in specialized outpatient clinics. We measured the association of maternal CMD evolution (absent, maintained, or improved over time) with asthma control and visits to the emergency department (ED) due to asthma attacks through Poisson regression analysis. We further stratified the sample according to social support levels to identify a possible effect of this variable on the association of maternal psychological symptoms with asthma morbidity. Results Compared with mothers who maintained CMD over time, maternal CMD absence had a protective effect on the occurrence of visits to the ED (RR: 0.45; 95% CI: 0.26‐0.79) and maternal CMD improvement was associated with lower risk of uncontrolled asthma in the child (RR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.37‐0.97). There was a stronger association of maternal CMD improvement with asthma control in the child only for the stratum of mothers with high social support in its three dimensions (affective‐social interaction, emotional‐informational, and material dimensions). Conclusions Maternal CMD absence and improvement over the study period were protective factors for uncontrolled asthma in the child, mainly in the presence of high social support.

Heterogeneity in the co‐occurrence of depression and anxiety symptoms among youth survivors: A longitudinal study using latent profile analysis

“…Social support systems referred to which an individual's close relationship may offer support, mainly including three dimensions emotional–social interaction, material dimensions, and informational–social interaction (Cohen, 2004; da Costa et al, 2020). Unexpectedly, the support system was not associated with depression and anxiety symptoms (Kar & Bastia, 2006; Lai et al, 2015).…”

Violence Exposure, Child Asthma Morbidity, and Maternal Depressive Symptoms: A Longitudinal Analysis of Cumulative Risk

“…The chronic, unresolved nature of their distress is alarming given the established deleterious outcomes of untreated depressive symptoms in mothers such as health care expenditure costs and employee absenteeism rates, 62 comorbid substance use and ineffective parenting, 63 and sub-optimal child asthma management behaviors, [64][65] including (a) higher risk for second-hand smoke exposure, 66-67 (b) inconsistent child asthma preventive care visits, 11,68 (c) increased child asthma functional morbidity, 68 (d) reduced adherence to child asthma medication regimen, 15,16,65,[69][70] and (e) uncontrolled child asthma. 71 As evidence demonstrating the relationship between caregiver depression and asthma morbidity has accumulated, so have calls for routine asthma caregiver depression screening. 64,65,72 Our findings support previous proposals for the integration of caregiver depression screening and referral to treatment into existing models of care for children with asthma.…”