Admissions to psychiatric units after birth in Wales
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Admissions to psychiatric units in the postpartum period: Is socio-economic deprivation a risk factor for women living in Wales?
IRAS ID
251613
Contact name
Emma K S Alofs
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 9 months, 18 days
Research summary
Mothers who experience severe mental illness after birth may require hospitalisation due to severity of symptoms and potential risk to mother and baby. In the absence of mother and baby units (MBUs) in Wales, women in Wales requiring inpatient care in the postpartum period are most likely to be admitted to general psychiatric inpatient units. However, there is a dearth of literature reporting on the characteristics of postpartum women who require inpatient care, particularly in geographical areas in Wales where there are no MBUs.
Routinely collected information recorded by NHS Wales Informatics Service (NWIS) during birth and also during admission will be accessed. The study will access anonymous patient data from the years 2000-2018. As obtaining consent is not possible, the data will be non-identifiable as the researchers will not access patients' names, dates of birth or postcodes. Demographic information will be accessed (age in bands, marital status, ethnicity, language), and information regarding diagnosis, length of stay, parity, time since birth in relation to admission, previous admissions, status of admission (e.g. detained or voluntary) and patient geographical area codes, which will be converted by NWIS from patients' post-codes.
A second dataset will be accessed, which is openly available to the public, via the Welsh Government. The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) is an official measure of deprivation for small areas in Wales. The WIMD provides a measure of overall deprivation, as well as multiple subcategories of deprivation including employment, income, health, education, access to services, community safety, physical environment, and housing. The current study will assign patients to the level of deprivation for their area, as determined during a recent census.
The database-analysis study will be the first of its kind to describe the demographic make-up of mothers admitted to psychiatric units in Wales in the postpartum period.
REC name
Wales REC 5
REC reference
18/WA/0375
Date of REC Opinion
26 Nov 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion