Up to one in five mothers and one in ten fathers suffer from psychological problems such as depression or anxiety disorders during pregnancy and in the first year after the birth (peripartum phase). That shows a new study of the Austrian Institute for Health Technology Assessment (AIHTA). There is a lot of catching up to do in Austria when it comes to prevention and care.
Complications at birth, increased risk of suicide
The researchers warn of “immediate and long-term potentially serious effects on mother, father and especially the child”. Immediate consequences can be, for example, complications during pregnancy or childbirth, restrictions in the relationship between parents and baby, behavioral or emotional problems in the child, and an increased risk of suicide by the parent or infant mortality. In the long term, children are at greater risk of mental and physical illnesses and their healthy development can be significantly affected.
Researchers sound the alarm: no national strategy
Despite this, there is neither a national strategy nor a national care model for peripartum mental health in Austria, emphasized the AIHTA. The existing offers also show large regional differences, which are often uncoordinated and not available across the federal states. In two studies, the AIHTA analyzed how other selected countries (Great Britain, Ireland, Canada and Australia) deal with the need for care structures.
In all of the international documents examined, the early identification of people with peripartum mental illnesses is identified as essential. “Screening of mothers for these diseases is unanimously recommended, ideally at several points in time, for example at the beginning and later in pregnancy and six to twelve weeks after birth or at least once in the first year after birth,” reported Inanna Reinsperger, Public health researcher at AIHTA.
Not provided for in the mother-child passport
“However, the Austrian offer structure deviates significantly from the international recommendations,” explained AIHTA deputy director Ingrid Zechmeister-Koss. “In the ‘Mutter-Kind-Pass’, the national screening program for pregnancy and the first five years of the child’s life, routine screening for mental health problems is not yet planned, although mental health components are to be integrated in the future. For serious, There are generally few specialized offers for acute peripartum mental problems in particular,” stressed Zechmeister-Koss.
The inventory of the existing prevention, early detection and care offers in Austria showed that the content and capacity of these offers are very different and that there are no national quality standards and guidelines for care pathways. The inpatient capacities for mother-child beds are also well below the internationally recommended requirement numbers and are completely missing in some federal states, the AIHTA stated.
“In the case of some offers in Austria, it is unclear to what extent their benefits have been proven. There is also virtually no knowledge about their cost-effectiveness or the impact of structural determinants on mental health, such as family and reproductive policy measures. In contrast to In other countries, there is a lack of research in Austria on this. Despite its frequency, supporting parents with peripartum mental health problems has a low health and social policy priority,” said Jean Paul from the Medical University of Innsbruck, where an overarching project to improve peripartum mental health is managed in Tyrol.
