Poster #30 - Developmental trajectories of birth-related factors and children’s psychological health: A population-level linkage study

• In Event: 3-001 - Poster Session 2 during Breakfast

Abstract

Background: Little is known about how social, biological, and socio-economic birth-related factors may independently and collectively influence developmental trajectories of children’s psychological health at a population-level. The present study linked large-scale and representative social, medical, and economic databases in British Columbia (BC), Canada, to consider how birth-related factors relate to psychological health in childhood. We examined how birth-related factors related to: 1) Children’s emotional health at age 5; and 2) Children’s contact with public healthcare services regarding mental health conditions between age 2 to 15.

Method: Birth-related information of persons born in BC was gathered from provincial administrative health databases and linked to neighbourhood income data from Canadian tax-filer records. In study 1, we examined relationships between birth-related factors and teacher-rated emotional health at age 5 via the Early Development Instrument (EDI) among individuals born between 1993 – 2005 (n=139,368). In study 2, we examined relationships between birth-related factors and contact with public healthcare (e.g., clinic or hospital visits) for mental health conditions based on health insurance billings for common childhood mental health conditions (depression, anxiety, conduct, attention deficit hyperactivity) between age 2 – 15 among individuals born between 1993 – 1995 and present in BC until age 15 (n=93,037). In both studies, relationships between birth factors and childhood psychological health were estimated using multiple logistic regression.

Results: Various birth-related factors were significantly (p<.05) related to poor emotional health of children at age 5, including Caesarian delivery (aOR: 1.12), small birth weight for gestational age (aOR: 1.29), low Apgar score (aOR: 1.12), short gestational period (aOR: 1.18) male gender (aOR: 3.33), older maternal age (aOR: 1.08), unmarried parents (aOR: 1.62), and low income (aOR: 1.64). These birth factors were also significantly related to public healthcare contact for mental health conditions between age 2 to 15. Having an immigrant mother was not significantly related to emotional health at age 5 but was related to significantly lower odds of healthcare contact for mental disorders in childhood (aOR: 1.46).

Conclusions: Analysis of linked population-level data identified key biological and social birth factors related to children’s psychological health and highlighted the adverse impact of low socio-economic status. This study highlighted the unique benefits of linking population-level administrative databases as well as linking administrative and survey (teacher-reported) data to better understand children’s developmental trajectories regarding birth factors and psychological health. Findings may be employed to support population health monitoring, early identification of subpopulations who may be at-risk of experiencing psychological problems, and may aid community health interventions.

Authors

• Scott Emerson, University of British Columbia
  Presenting Author

• Martin Guhn, University of British Columbia

• Dorri Mahdaviani, University of British Columbia

• Anne Gadermann, University of British Columbia