The general health of children of parents with mental illness is overlooked.

To quantify the difference in healthcare use of children exposed and unexposed to maternal mental illness (MMI).

This was a retrospective cohort study of children aged 0–17 years, from 1 April 2007 to 31 July 2017, using a primary care register (Clinical Practice Research Datalink) linked to Hospital Episodes Statistics. MMI included non-affective/affective psychosis and mood, anxiety, addiction, eating and personality disorders. Healthcare use included prescriptions, primary care and secondary care contacts; inflation adjusted costs were applied. The rate and cost was calculated and compared for children exposed and unexposed to MMI using negative binomial regression models. The total annual cost to NHS England of children with MMI was estimated.

The study included 489 255 children: 238 106 (48.7%) girls, 112 741 children (23.0%) exposed to MMI. Compared to unexposed children, exposed children had a higher rate of healthcare use (rate ratio 1.27, 95% CI 1.26–1.28), averaging 2.21 extra contacts per exposed child per year (95% CI 2.14–2.29). Increased healthcare use among exposed children occurred in inpatients (rate ratio 1.37, 95% CI 1.32–1.42), emergency care visits (rate ratio 1.34, 95% CI 1.33–1.36), outpatients (rate ratio 1.30, 95% CI 1.28–1.32), prescriptions (rate ratio 1.28, 95% CI 1.26–1.30) and primary care consultations (rate ratio 1.24, 95% CI 1.23–1.25). This costs NHS England an additional £656 million (95% CI £619–£692 million), annually.

Children of mentally ill mothers are a health vulnerable group for whom targeted intervention may create benefit for individuals, families, as well as limited NHS resources.

父母患有精神疾病的孩子的整体健康状况被忽视了。

量化暴露和未暴露于母亲精神疾病 (MMI) 的儿童在医疗保健使用方面的差异。

这是一项对 2007 年 4 月 1 日至 2017 年 7 月 31 日 0-17 岁儿童的回顾性队列研究，使用与医院事件统计相关的初级保健登记册（临床实践研究数据链接）。MMI 包括非情感/情感性精神病和情绪、焦虑、成瘾、饮食和人格障碍。医疗保健使用包括处方、初级保健和二级保健接触；采用了通货膨胀调整后的费用。使用负二项式回归模型计算和比较暴露于和未暴露于 MMI 的儿童的比率和成本。估计了 MMI 儿童每年对 NHS England 的总费用。

该研究包括 489 255 名儿童：238 106 名（48.7%）女孩，112 741 名儿童（23.0%）暴露于 MMI。与未暴露儿童相比，暴露儿童的医疗保健使用率更高（比率 1.27，95% CI 1.26-1.28），平均每个暴露儿童每年额外接触 2.21 次（95% CI 2.14-2.29）。住院患者（比率 1.37，95% CI 1.32–1.42）、急诊就诊（比率 1.34，95% CI 1.33–1.36）、门诊患者（比率 1.30，95% CI 1.28–1.32）增加了暴露儿童的医疗保健使用率)、处方（比率 1.28, 95% CI 1.26–1.30）和初级保健咨询（比率 1.24, 95% CI 1.23–1.25）。这使 NHS England 每年额外花费 6.56 亿英镑（95% CI 为 619 至 6.92 亿英镑）。

患有精神疾病的母亲的孩子是一个健康的弱势群体，有针对性的干预可能会为个人、家庭以及有限的 NHS 资源带来好处。