(P07-026-25) Maternal Depression Does Not Predict Growth Status Indicators in Children of Adolescent Mothers in Ghana

Objectives: Childhood malnutrition is a major global public health issue, contributing to half of all deaths in children under five years of age. While maternal depression may impact child growth, limited studies have examined this association among adolescent mothers and their children. This study examined the association between maternal depression and child growth indicators.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from June to November 2022 among 203 adolescent mother-child pairs (mothers aged 12-19, children aged < 5) in Cape Coast Metropolis, Ghana. We collected socio-demographic information and assessed maternal depressive symptoms, using validated tools. Child weight and height were measured and converted to z-scores using the WHO Anthro software and classified as stunted, underweight or wasted if height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-age (WAZ) or weight-for-height (WHZ) z-scores were < -2SD, respectively. Multiple linear and logistic regression were used to test the association between depressive symptom scores and child growth indicators, controlling for covariates.

Results: The mean (±SD) age of mothers and their children was 17.8 ±1.1 years and 11.1 ±9.6 months, respectively. About 24.1% of children were stunted, 17.7% were underweight and 8.9% were wasted, and 47.8% of adolescent mothers reported clinically significant depressive symptoms. There were no significant associations between maternal depressive symptom scores and continuous (HAZ, WAZ, WHZ) and binary (stunting, underweight, and wasting) child growth indicators.

Conclusions: Although no significant association was observed between maternal depression scores and child growth indicators, future research should investigate the determinants of depression among adolescent mothers given the high prevalence observed. Studies should investigate other factors influencing child growth in this population, considering the lack of direct association with maternal depression.

Funding Sources: Start-up support provided by the Vice President for Research at Oklahoma State University