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Pre- and post-natal maternal anxiety and early childhood weight gain

Nobutoshi Nawa1, Maureen M Black2, Ricardo Araya3

  • 1Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA; Institute of Education, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan; Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.

Journal of Affective Disorders
|July 14, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Maternal anxiety during pregnancy and after birth is linked to a small increase in child BMI gain. Maternal depression did not show a similar association with child weight gain trajectories.

Area of Science:

  • Perinatal mental health
  • Childhood development
  • Pediatric health

Background:

  • Maternal depression is linked to impaired child growth.
  • The association between maternal anxiety and child weight gain remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between maternal pre- and post-natal anxiety and child weight gain.
  • To examine maternal depressive symptoms in relation to child weight gain.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from 1168 children in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.
  • Measured child body mass index (BMI) at 25 and 31 months.
  • Assessed maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms at multiple pre- and post-natal time points using validated questionnaires.

Main Results:

  • Maternal anxiety was associated with a modest increase in child BMI gain (0.06 per 3 months) during the second year of life.
  • No significant association was found between maternal depressive symptoms and child BMI trajectories.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal anxiety around childbirth is linked to increased child BMI gain.
  • Maternal anxiety, not depression, appears to influence child weight gain trajectories in early childhood.
Abstract

Keywords:
ALSPACAbbreviations: ALSPAC, avon longitudinal study of parents and childrenBMI, body mass indexChild BMI trajectoriesChild growthCiF, children in focusDepressionEPDS, edinburgh postnatal depression scaleGEE, generalized estimating equationsPostnatal anxietyPrenatal anxiety

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