The effect on women's health of extending parental leave: a quasi-experimental registry-based cohort study
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The effect on women's health of extending parental leave : a quasi-experimental registry-based cohort study. / Courtin, Emilie; Rieckmann, Andreas; Bengtsson, Jessica; Nafilyan, Vahe; Melchior, Maria; Berkman, Lisa; Rod, Naja Hulvej.
I: International Journal of Epidemiology, Bind 52, Nr. 4, 2023, s. 993–1002.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The effect on women's health of extending parental leave
T2 - a quasi-experimental registry-based cohort study
AU - Courtin, Emilie
AU - Rieckmann, Andreas
AU - Bengtsson, Jessica
AU - Nafilyan, Vahe
AU - Melchior, Maria
AU - Berkman, Lisa
AU - Rod, Naja Hulvej
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Background Parental leave policies have been hypothesized to benefit mothers' mental health. We assessed the impact of a 6-week extension of parental leave in Denmark on maternal mental health. Methods We linked individual-level data from Danish national registries on maternal sociodemographic characteristics and psychiatric diagnoses. A regression discontinuity design was applied to study the increase in parental leave duration after 26 March 1984. We included women who had given birth between 1 January 1981 and 31 December 1987. Our outcome was a first psychiatric diagnosis following the child's birth, ascertained as the first day of inpatient hospital admission for any psychiatric disorder. We presented cumulative incidences for the 30-year follow-up period and reported absolute risk differences between women eligible for the reform vs not, in 5-year intervals. Results In all, 291 152 women were followed up until 2017, death, emigration or date of first psychiatric diagnosis. The median follow-up time was 29.99 years, corresponding to 10 277 547 person-years at risk. The cumulative incidence of psychiatric diagnoses at 30 years of follow-up was 59.5 (95% CI: 57.4 to 61.6) per 1000 women in the ineligible group and 57.5 (95% CI: 55.6 to 59.4) in the eligible group. Eligible women took on average 32.85 additional days of parental leave (95% CI: 29.20 to 36.49) and had a lower probability of having a psychiatric diagnosis within 5 years [risk difference (RD): 2.4 fewer diagnoses per 1000 women, 95% CI: 1.5 to 3.2] and up to 20 years after the birth (RD: 2.3, 95% CI: 0.4 to 4.2). In subgroup analyses, the risk reduction was concentrated among low-educated, low-income and single women. Conclusions Longer parental leave may confer mental health benefits to women, in particular to those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
AB - Background Parental leave policies have been hypothesized to benefit mothers' mental health. We assessed the impact of a 6-week extension of parental leave in Denmark on maternal mental health. Methods We linked individual-level data from Danish national registries on maternal sociodemographic characteristics and psychiatric diagnoses. A regression discontinuity design was applied to study the increase in parental leave duration after 26 March 1984. We included women who had given birth between 1 January 1981 and 31 December 1987. Our outcome was a first psychiatric diagnosis following the child's birth, ascertained as the first day of inpatient hospital admission for any psychiatric disorder. We presented cumulative incidences for the 30-year follow-up period and reported absolute risk differences between women eligible for the reform vs not, in 5-year intervals. Results In all, 291 152 women were followed up until 2017, death, emigration or date of first psychiatric diagnosis. The median follow-up time was 29.99 years, corresponding to 10 277 547 person-years at risk. The cumulative incidence of psychiatric diagnoses at 30 years of follow-up was 59.5 (95% CI: 57.4 to 61.6) per 1000 women in the ineligible group and 57.5 (95% CI: 55.6 to 59.4) in the eligible group. Eligible women took on average 32.85 additional days of parental leave (95% CI: 29.20 to 36.49) and had a lower probability of having a psychiatric diagnosis within 5 years [risk difference (RD): 2.4 fewer diagnoses per 1000 women, 95% CI: 1.5 to 3.2] and up to 20 years after the birth (RD: 2.3, 95% CI: 0.4 to 4.2). In subgroup analyses, the risk reduction was concentrated among low-educated, low-income and single women. Conclusions Longer parental leave may confer mental health benefits to women, in particular to those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
KW - Parental leave
KW - mental disorders
KW - quasi-experiment
KW - social determinants of health
KW - women's health
KW - PAID MATERNITY LEAVE
KW - REGRESSION DISCONTINUITY DESIGNS
KW - MENTAL-HEALTH
KW - FAMILY LEAVE
KW - DEPRESSION
KW - EPIDEMIOLOGY
KW - PREVALENCE
KW - DISORDERS
KW - POLICIES
KW - OUTCOMES
U2 - 10.1093/ije/dyac198
DO - 10.1093/ije/dyac198
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 36240451
VL - 52
SP - 993
EP - 1002
JO - International Journal of Epidemiology
JF - International Journal of Epidemiology
SN - 0300-5771
IS - 4
ER -
ID: 323007077