MATERNAL NEUROTIC SYMPTOMS AND INFANTS RISK OF DEVELOPING PERSISTENT DIARRHEA

A previously calculated predictive model for health risk selects infan ts who suffer 4-5 times more morbidity than their unselected peers. Pr eliminary results suggested that this risk is related to maternal neur otic symptomatology. To evaluate this hypothesis, 52 consecutive mothe rs whose infants had a positive predictive score (Group 1) and 52 in w hom this was negative (Group 2) were evaluated by means of Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire (GHQ - 30). A total of 41.9% and 20.5% of the mothers in Groups 1 and 2, respectively, scored above 11 points i n GHQ-30, established as the cut off point. It is concluded that among poor urban families in Santiago mothers of infants with high risk of persistent diarrhoea have increased frequency of detectable neurotic s ymptoms. New programs aimed at this type of infant should include psyc hological support for their mothers.