Ethnic inequalities in mental and physical multimorbidity in women of reproductive age: a data linkage cohort study

Objectives Explore inequalities in risk factors, mental and physical health morbidity in non-pregnant women of reproductive age in contact with mental health services and how these vary per ethnicity.Design Retrospective cohort study.Setting Data from Lambeth DataNet, anonymised primary care records of this ethnically diverse London borough, linked to anonymised electronic mental health records (‘CRIS secondary care database’).Participants Women aged 15–40 years with an episode of secondary mental health care between January 2008 and December 2018 and no antenatal or postnatal Read codes (n=3817) and a 4:1 age-matched comparison cohort (n=14 532).Main outcome measures Preconception risk factors including low/high body mass index, smoking, alcohol, substance misuse, micronutrient deficiencies and physical diagnoses.Results Women in contact with mental health services (whether with or without severe mental illness (SMI)) had a higher prevalence of all risk factors and physical health diagnoses studied. Women from minority ethnic groups were less likely to be diagnosed with depression in primary care compared with white British women (adjusted OR 0.66 (0.55–0.79) p