RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Psychopathology in mothers of children with pathogenic Copy Number Variants
JF Journal of Medical Genetics
JO J Med Genet
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP jmedgenet-2022-108752
DO 10.1136/jmg-2022-108752
A1 Maria Niarchou
A1 Adam C. Cunningham
A1 Samuel J. R. A. Chawner
A1 Hayley Moulding
A1 Matthew Sopp
A1 IMAGINE-ID
A1 Jeremy Hall
A1 Michael J. Owen
A1 Marianne B.M. van den Bree
YR 2022
UL http://jmg.bmj.com/content/early/2023/02/22/jmg-2022-108752.abstract
AB Background Caring for children with pathogenic neurodevelopmental Copy Number Variants (CNVs) (ie, deletions and duplications of genetic material) can place a considerable burden on parents and their quality of life. Our study is the first to examine the frequency of psychiatric diagnoses in mothers of children with CNVs compared with the frequency of psychiatric problems in age-matched mothers from a large community study.Methods Case–control study. 268 mothers of children with a CNV diagnosed in a medical genetics clinic and 2680 age-matched mothers taking part in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children study.Results Mothers of children with CNVs reported higher frequency of depression, anorexia, bulimia, alcohol abuse and drug addiction problems compared with the age-matched mothers from the community sample. Focusing on psychiatric problems arising immediately after the birth of the index child, we found that the levels of depression symptoms were similar between the two groups (48% in mothers of children with CNVs vs 44% in mothers of the community sample, p=0.43), but mothers of children with CNVs had higher frequency of anxiety symptoms (55%) compared with mothers from the community sample (30%, p=0.03).Conclusion Our study highlights the need for healthcare providers to devise treatment plans that not only focus on meeting the child’s needs but also assess and, if needed, address the mental health needs of the parent.No data are available. Due to data sharing restrictions, the data will not be publicly available; however, all scripts used in the study are available upon request.