Association between postnatal mental health-related hospitalisation and child development and education outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Demeke Mesfin Belay, Abel Fekadu Dadi, Yohannes Tesfahun Kassie, Wubet Alebachew Bayih, Behailu Derseh, Binyam Minuye Birhane, Bernard Leckning, Steven Guthridge · 2026
Read Association between postnatal mental health-related hospitalisation and child development and education outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis by Demeke Mesfin Belay, Abel Fekadu Dadi, Yohannes Tesfahun Kassie, Wubet Alebachew Bayih, Behailu Derseh, Binyam Minuye Birhane, Bernard Leckning, Steven Guthridge (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13253637.txt.
Description
Demeke Mesfin Belay and colleagues pool evidence on how a mother's postnatal mental health hospitalization relates to her child's later development in a 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis. Severe mental illness after childbirth can interrupt early caregiving, but its longer shadow over schooling and development needed quantification. The team searched seven databases and checked study quality.
Children whose mothers had a postnatal mental health hospitalization faced higher odds of developmental vulnerability in at least one of five domains, with a pooled odds ratio of 1.53 across studies. Social, emotional, and physical domains each showed elevated risk, while the communication result was not significant. School outcomes followed the same direction: below-average performance overall, and specifically in spelling and writing, was more likely in these children. Publication bias was detected and adjusted for in the analysis. The authors urge services that treat mother and child together.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Demeke Mesfin Belay, Abel Fekadu Dadi, Yohannes Tesfahun Kassie, Wubet Alebachew Bayih, Behailu Derseh, Binyam Minuye Birhane, Bernard Leckning, Steven Guthridge |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 36 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |