Length of Stay for Mental and Behavioural Disorders Postpartum in Primiparous Mothers: A Cohort Study

Fenglian Xu, Marie-Paule Austin, Nicole Reilly, Lisa Hilder and Elizabeth A Sullivan
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Fenglian Xu: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia
Marie-Paule Austin: Perinatal and Women's Mental Health Unit, St. John of God Health Care and School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Burwood, NSW 2134, Australia
Nicole Reilly: Perinatal and Women's Mental Health Unit, St. John of God Health Care and School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Burwood, NSW 2134, Australia
Lisa Hilder: National Perinatal Epidemiology and Statistics Unit, School of Women's and Children's Health, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia
Elizabeth A Sullivan: National Perinatal Epidemiology and Statistics Unit, School of Women's and Children's Health, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia

IJERPH, 2014, vol. 11, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: Background : Previous research showed that there was a significant increase in psychiatric hospital admission of postpartum mothers. The aim of the current study is to describe the length of hospital stays and patient days for mental and behavioural disorders (MBD) of new mothers in the first year after birth. Method : This was a cohort study based on linked population data between the New South Wales (NSW) Midwives Data Collection (MDC) and the NSW Admitted Patients Data Collection (APDC). The study population included primiparous mothers aged from 18 to 44 who gave birth between 1 July 2000 and 31 December 2005. The Kaplan–Meier method was used to describe the length of hospital stay for MBD. Results : For principal diagnoses of MBD, the entire length of hospital stay in the first year postpartum was 11.38 days (95% CI: 10.70–12.06) for mean and 6 days (95% CI: 5.87–6.13) for median. The length of hospital stay per admission was 8.47 days (95% CI: 8.03–8.90) for mean and 5 days (95% CI: 4.90–5.10) for median. There were 5,129 patient days of hospital stay per year for principal diagnoses of postpartum MBD in new mothers between 1 July 2000 and 31 December 2005 in NSW, Australia. Conclusions : MBD, especially unipolar depressions, adjustment disorders, acute psychotic episodes, and schizophrenia, or schizophrenia-like disorders during the first year after birth, placed a significant burden on hospital services due to long hospital stays and large number of admissions.

Keywords: mental health; length of hospital stay; postpartum; data linkage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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