There is evidence of large differences between ethnic groups in the risk of unexplained death in infancy, including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Mary Kroll, Maria Quigley, Jenny Kurinczuk, Yangmei Li and Jennifer Hollowell at the NPEU, University of Oxford, and Nirupa Dattani at City, University of London, looked at newly-available data for 4.6 million babies born in England and Wales. They found the lowest risk of unexplained death in infancy in Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, White Non-British and Black African babies; intermediate risk in White British babies; and highest risk in Mixed Black-African-White, Mixed Black-Caribbean-White, and Black Caribbean babies.
The disparity of risk did not seem to be explained by patterns of preterm birth, mother’s age, or socio-economic position, and may reflect cultural differences in infant care.
The 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), which relies on self-report, is an established screening tool for monitoring depressive symptoms in the postnatal period. It is usually used as a single score with variable cut-offs and has been used in longitudinal research studies, in many cross sectional studies on maternal wellbeing, as well as in clinical practice.
Inconsistent findings and replication difficulties have limited use of the EPDS as a multi-dimensional tool.
A newly published study by Maggie Redshaw and Colin Martin focuses on the factor structure and different models that have been reported in identifying possible dimensions within the scale. Participants were two samples of postpartum women in England assessed at three months and six months using 2016 Maternity Survey data. The findings indicate a multidimensional measure, with a three-factor seven-item EPDS model, reflecting anxiety, depression and anhedonia (a reduced ability to feel pleasure) fitting the data best in both datasets. The use of the sub-scale components identified requires further investigation with a range of populations in both research and clinical practice contexts.
New research by Yangmei Li, Maria Quigley, Nirupa Dattani, Ron Gray, Hiranthi Jayaweera, Jenny Kurinczuk, Alison Macfarlane, and Jennifer Hollowell describes ethnic variations in infant mortality and explores the contribution of area deprivation, mother’s country of birth, and prematurity to these variations.
Using routine birth and death data on more than 4.6 million singleton live births in England and Wales, 2006-2012, they found that crude infant mortality rates were higher in Pakistani, Black Caribbean, Black African, and Bangladeshi infants (6.92, 6.00, 5.17 and 4.40 per 1,000 live births, respectively vs. 2.87 in White British infants). Adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics changed the results little. Further adjustment for gestational age strongly attenuated the risk in Black Caribbean (odds ratio 1.02, 95% CI 0.89-1.17) and Black African infants (1.17, 1.06-1.29) but not in Pakistani (2.32, 2.15-2.50), Bangladeshi (1.47, 1.28-1.69), and Indian infants (1.24, 1.11-1.38).
These results suggest that higher proportions of very premature infants appear to explain increased risks in Black infants but not in South Asian groups.
Read the research in full in the PLOS ONE journal.
A study by Maggie Redshaw and Jane Henderson shows that women living in the most deprived areas in England, who are most at risk of stillbirth, perceived their care more negatively than other women.
In this study, women who had suffered a stillbirth were asked nine months later about their care around the time of the stillbirth. Women resident in the most deprived areas were significantly less likely to feel spoken to so that they could understand and treated with respect. Free text comments indicated that these women had difficulty accessing care, that communication was poor, many of them did not feel cared for, and felt that more could have been done to save their baby.
The study is published in the Birth journal and you can read it here.
