Is parenthood associated with self-rated health among women in Brazil?

by Matheus Souza Ferreira, Zilda Pereira da Silva, Marcia Furquim de Almeida, Gizelton Pereira Alencar

Previous studies conducted in Europe and North America addressing the relationship between self-rated health and parenthood offer inconsistent results, with effects ranging from nonsignificant to significant and in opposite directions. The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between parenthood and self-rated health (SRH) among women in Brazil (a country with strong inequalities) considering the time interval from the last delivery in the analyses, as proposed in previous studies set in Sweden.

The study used data from cross-sectional National Health Surveys in Brazil conducted from 2013 to 2014 and 2019 to 2020 with selected groups of 20,046 and 25,100 women for whom complete data were available on the variables of interest. The primary outcome was self-rated health measured on a five-point scale. Partial proportional odds models were employed.

Compared to women that were not a parent, primiparous women whose delivery was within less than one year had a lower likelihood of worse SRH (OR (95% CI): 0.58–0.84 in 2013, and 0.64–0.94 in 2019), whereas multiparous women whose last delivery was more than one year earlier had greater likelihood of worse SRH (OR (95% CI): 1.08–1.27 in 2013, and 1.21–1.39 in 2019).

An association was found between parenthood and SRH among Brazilian women. Considering the epidemiological relevance of SRH, different aspects of parenthood concerning parity and time since the last delivery should be considered in further analyses.