Pregnancy and mental health (PMHQ)

PMHQ is the name of an additional questionnaire on mental health during and after pregnancy, among adult, female Lifelines participants. Implementation of this questionnaire in Lifelines was initiated by the department of psychiatry of the University Medical Center Groningen.

The collected PMHQ data is currently under embargo. Please contact the Lifelines data managers at data@lifelines.nl for more information.

Invitations were sent in October 2025. Non-responders received a personal reminder after 2 weeks. Invited participants could fill in the questionnaire until December 1st 2025.

~65,000 women (18+) were invited for PMHQ. The response rate was 27% (n=~17,900).

The PMHQ questionnaire consisted of (parts of), among others:

• The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS)
• The ROAQ add-on questionnaire
• The Long-term Difficulties Inventory (LDI)
• The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI)
• The Psychosis Screening Questionnaire (PSQ)
• The Lifetime Depression Assessment Self-Report (LIDAS)

Questions or instructions were sometimes slightly reformulated for a better fit with the scope of the study (i.e. to apply to pregnancy or the period thereafter).