Maternal income and preconception mental disorders: A Finnish cohort study

Abstract

Background: Recent studies focusing on young women have reported an association between low household income and mental disorders. This study aimed to evaluate whether an association exists between maternal income and socioeconomic status and preconception mental disorders. Methods: This is an observational register-based study comprising of 6189 Finnish women, who delivered a singleton between 2009 and 2015. Pregnancy data was obtained from The Finnish Medical Birth register, maternal income from Finnish Tax Administration and educational attainment from Statistics of Finland. Obtained from the Care Register for Health Care was data on maternal psychiatric diagnosis one year before conception. Results: Of the study participants, 3.1% had a diagnosis of CMD (common mental disorders) one year before conception. Women with CMD were younger, more often lived alone, smoked and had less educational attainment than women without mental disorders (for all p<0.001). Annual income was €4619 less in women with preconception CMD diagnosis than women without mental disorders (age and educational attainment adjusted p<0.001). Limitations: All participants were Finnish; thus, the generalization of the study observations is limited. Conclusions: Low maternal income and low socioeconomic status are associated with preconception mental disorders.

Keywords

• Common mental disorders
• Income
• Preconception
• Psychiatric diagnosis
• Socioeconomic status