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Reproduction among 1975 Sardinian women and men diagnosed with major mood disorders
Author(s) -
Tondo L.,
Lepri B.,
Baldessarini R. J.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2010.01660.x
Subject(s) - fertility , major depressive disorder , mood , mood disorders , bipolar disorder , medicine , population , psychiatry , demography , psychology , pediatrics , anxiety , environmental health , sociology
Tondo L, Lepri B, Baldessarini RJ. Reproduction among 1975 Sardinian women and men diagnosed with major mood disorders. Objective: Disability varies in patients with major affective disorders [type I and II bipolar disorders (BPD) and recurrent unipolar major depressive disorder (UP‐MDD)]. It may include reproductive functioning, which has rarely been studied systematically. Method: We compared information acquired over several years pertaining to marital/reproductive status among 1975 systematically evaluated, treated, and followed women ( n = 1351) and men ( n = 624) diagnosed with DSM‐IV type I ( n = 300) or II BPD ( n = 223), or MDD ( n = 1452). We compared factors between patients with vs. without children and associated with fertility rate (children/fertile years × 100), using standard bivariate methods followed by multivariate modeling. Results: Childless patients were younger at illness onset, more likely men, diagnosed with type I BPD, more educated, and unmarried, but similar in many aspects of clinical history to those with children. Fertility rate ranked: BP‐I < BP‐II ≤ MDD, and men < women. Mood‐disorder patients had 17% fewer children/person than in the comparable general population of Sardinia. Among mood‐disorder patients, fertility appeared to decline in Sardinia in recent decades, more in men than women. Conclusion: Type I BPD was associated with lower fertility than BP‐II or UP‐MDD, consistent with their relatively high levels of other disabilities.