PhD in Psychiatric Epidemiology using data from UK General Practice: investigating the health of children of mothers experiencing mental illness

Maternal mental illness is known to be associated with severe obstetric complications, maternal morbidity and poor outcomes of birth. Furthermore, parental mental illness is strongly associated with poor neuropsychiatric prognosis in children. However, significantly less is known about the effect of parental mental illness on young people’s general health and well-being. This PhD will investigate, in detail, the epidemiology of children born to mothers experiencing mental illness in the UK. This will involve quantifying the risk of poor physical (i.e. non-psychological) disorders in this group of vulnerable young people. Of particular interest is investigating how socio-economic status affects the relationship between having a mother with a maternal mental illness and having poor physical health during childhood and adolescence. Also, we wish to understand how this relationship is affected by the offspring’s gender and the timing and severity of the maternal mental illness. Parallel work will be conducted using registry data in Sweden and Western Australia. A further aim of this PhD will be to make cross-national comparisons, assessing potential ecological drivers of any key differences.

You will analyse data on almost a million mother and baby pairs, using the ‘mother-baby’ link within the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). This will require developing data management and statistical analysis skills to answer relevant hypotheses. For example, to what extent is having a mother with a mental illness associated with having a diagnosis of diabetes in childhood? Under the guidance of the supervisory team, you will develop the specific hypothesis to be addressed using this rich dataset.

Applicants are expected to hold, or expect to obtain, a minimum upper-second class undergraduate degree in a statistical or social sciences subject, with a significant numerical component, from a Russell Group University. A numerate Master’s degree in Statistics, epidemiology, or experience of working on epidemiological projects, is also essential. For information on how to apply for this project, please visit the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health Doctoral Academy website (https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/research/apply/). Please select ’PhD Epidemiology’ when applying. The start date will be January 2018 onwards. Informal enquiries may be made directly to the primary supervisor.