MedPage Today (5/27, Robertson ) reports a study suggests that “self-reported maternal mental health declined in recent years, as did maternal physical health, though less drastically.” Researchers found that “after adjustments for secular changes in sociodemographic groups, ‘excellent’ physical health decreased by 4.2 percentage points, ‘excellent’ mental health decreased by 12.4 percentage points, and ‘fair/poor’ mental health increased by 3.5 percentage points from 2016 to 2023.” They noted that “mothers with lower education levels and publicly insured or uninsured kids, as well as single mothers, had higher odds of self-reporting worse physical and mental health.” Overall, investigators concluded that the “decline in mental health was even greater than what” they “were expecting to find. Recent research has focused on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, but this study indicated that the downward population-level trends were happening before 2020.” The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
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