Risk of disruptive behavioural disorders in offspring of mothers with perinatal depressive disorders: A data linkage cohort study.

Background: This study aims to examine the relationship between maternal antenatal and postnatal depressive disorders and the risk of disruptive behavioural disorders (DBDs) in offspring, including conduct disorder (CD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD).

Methods: We utilised a large administrative health dataset from New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Maternal perinatal depressive disorders and offspring DBDs were identified using International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) codes. Generalised linear models with a binomial distribution and log link function were applied to estimate the risk. Adjusted risk ratios (RR) with 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) were used to quantify the associations.

Results: After adjusting for potential confounders, our findings show that maternal postnatal depressive disorders are associated with a 96 % increased risk of offspring developing DBDs (RR = 1.96, 95 % CI = 1.19-3.24). Specifically, offspring of mothers with postnatal depressive disorders were 2.25 times more likely to develop CD (RR = 2.25, 95 % CI = 1.26-4.03). However, the association between maternal postnatal depressive disorders and offspring ODD was not statistically significant (RR = 1.71, 95 % CI = 0.90-3.24). Additionally, we observed no evidence of an association between maternal antenatal depressive disorders and offspring DBDs (RR = 1.39, 95 % CI = 0.90-2.15).

Conclusion: Maternal postnatal depressive disorders, but not antenatal depressive disorders, were associated with an increased risk of DBDs, particularly CD, in offspring. These findings suggest that screening for DBDs in children of women with postnatal depressive disorders may be beneficial.