Understanding the relationship between postpartum depression one month and six months after delivery and mother-infant bonding failure one-year after birth: results from the Japan Environment and Children's study (JECS)

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec id="S0033291719002101_sec_a1"><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>Postpartum depression is a major mental health issue. It not only adversely affects the mother's quality of life, but also mother-infant bonding. However, the relationship between postpartum depression (at multiple points after childbirth) and mother-infant bonding failure one year after birth is not well understood. This study investigates the relationship between postpartum depression at 1-month and 6-month after birth and mother-infant bonding failure at 1 year after birth with a large cohort.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec id="S0033291719002101_sec_a2" sec-type="methods"><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>Data from 83 109 mothers from the Japan Environment and Children's Study were analyzed. Mother-infant bonding 1-year after delivery was assessed using the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale Japanese version (MIBS-J). Postpartum depression was measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 1-month and 6-month after delivery. Twenty covariates during pregnancy and one month after delivery were controlled for deriving the odds ratios (ORs) describing postpartum depression to mother-infant bonding.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec id="S0033291719002101_sec_a3" sec-type="results"><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>EPDS Total Score crude ORs and adjusted ORs against the MIBS-J Total Score at 1-month and 6-month after delivery were calculated. Crude ORs were 1.111 (95% CI 1.110–1.112) and 1.122 (95% CI 1.121–1.124) respectively. In the fully adjusted model, ORs were 1.088 (95% CI 1.086–1.089) and 1.085 (95% CI 1.083–1.087), respectively.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec id="S0033291719002101_sec_a4" sec-type="conclusion"><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>This study demonstrated prospectively, in a large-scale cohort, that depression at multiple postpartum points, including associations with each EPDS and MIBS-J factors, may be a robust predictor of mother-infant bonding failure 1-year after birth.</jats:p></jats:sec>