Pregnancy more common in girls with mental illness

Pregnancy is three times more common in girls with mental illness than those without, according to a breakthrough study by researchers at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and Women's College Hospital.

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, is the first to examine the effect mental illness -- like depression, bipolar disorder and other psychotic disorders -- can have on fertility rates.

Researchers based their conclusion on data obtained from 4.5 million girls, aged 15 to 19, both with and without a mental illness. After a decade spent examining the amount of live births, they found there was a three-fold increase in pregnancy in young girls with a major mental health illness.

Each group showed a decreasing trend in their birth rates, but the gap between the two seemed to be increasing over the 10-year period. Live births decreased by only 14 percent in affected girls compared to a 22 percent decline among girls without a mental illness.

Dr. Simone Vigod, a psychiatrist at Women's College Hospital and assistant scientist at ICES, says research like this is important in highlighting an issue that has not always been directly dealt with. 

"Although we do know some of the risk factors behind why girls with mental health illness may be at increased risk of becoming pregnant, pregnancy prevention programs in most developed countries have not traditionally considered mental health issues," he said in a statement.

Based on their discovery, the team suggests implementing reproductive health care into adolescent mental health care programs.

Cindy-Lee Dennis, senior scientist at Women's College Research Institute and a Canada Research Chair in Perinatal Community Health, agrees such programs are needed.

"Having these programs and offerings in place will also help reduce teenage pregnancy and improve mother and child health outcomes," she said in a statement.