The study, published in the Advanced Access edition of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology, suggests that proper treatment for depression would improve not only a mothers' health but the health of young children as well.

University of Alabama at Birmingham psychologist David Schwebel examined a sample of 1,364 mothers included in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care, who were periodically asked to list all their children's injuries as well as how often they themselves experienced symptoms of depression.

The link between severe, chronic depression in mothers and injuries in young children remained consistent even when taking into account the families' socio-economic status, parenting styles and the children's sex, temperament and behavior.

A likely cause for the link between severe maternal depression and young children's injury risk is that chronically depressed mothers may not appropriately safeguard the physical environments that children engage in, Schwebel says.

Another cause may be that symptoms of depression include inattention, poor concentration and irritability, which "might lead to poor or inconsistent supervision and enforcement of safety-related rules."