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Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants

Published on: June 13, 2021

Prenatal depression and child developmental vulnerability

Naomi N Phagau¹, Paramdeep Kaur¹, Amanda Nitschke¹

¹Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC, 590-828 W 10th Ave, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1M9, Canada.

Pediatric Research

|January 24, 2025

Insights

Prenatal depression exposure is linked to increased childhood developmental vulnerability in physical health and socio-emotional domains. Further research is needed to confirm these long-term effects.

Area of Science:

Perinatal mental health
Child development
Developmental psychology

Background:

Prenatal depression is a significant fetal exposure with potential long-term impacts on child development.
Existing research indicates a negative impact on fetal brain development, but data on long-term child outcomes is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the association between prenatal depression and developmental vulnerability in children.
To assess the impact of maternal depression during pregnancy on various developmental domains in early childhood.

Main Methods:

A population-based cohort study utilizing live births in British Columbia from 2001 to 2012.
The Early Development Instrument (EDI) was used to assess developmental vulnerability in Kindergarten.
Conditional logistic regression and matched sibling analyses were employed to estimate associations.

Main Results:

Children exposed to prenatal depression showed significantly higher odds of vulnerability in physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, and language/cognitive development.
A substantial proportion of children (4.7%) were exposed to prenatal depression.
Matched sibling analyses indicated potential residual confounding, with some associations losing statistical significance but maintaining effect sizes above 1 for physical health and social competence.

Conclusions:

Prenatal depression exposure is associated with increased risk of developmental vulnerability in physical health, well-being, and socio-emotional domains.
While sibling-matched analyses suggest confounding factors, the observed effect sizes warrant further investigation.
More research is essential to elucidate the causal relationship and long-term consequences of prenatal depression on child development.

Read full analysis

Abstract

Background:

Prenatal depression is a potentially important fetal exposure as it may alter fetal development and have lasting effects.

Methods:

We examined all live births from 2001 to 2012 in British Columbia with follow-up data on the Early Development Instrument (EDI) in Kindergarten. The odds of developmental vulnerability on EDI domains among those with and without depression during pregnancy were estimated. A matched sibling analysis was run using conditional logistic regression within the same birth parent.

Results:

We included 130,631 births among 108,340 pregnant people, with 6089 children (4.7%) exposed to prenatal depression. Children exposed to depression during pregnancy were significantly more likely to be considered vulnerable on physical health and well-being (OR, 1.19 [95% CI, 1.10-1.29]), social competence (OR, 1.25 [95% CI, 1.15-1.36]), emotional maturity (OR, 1.18 [95% CI, 1.08-1.28]), language and cognitive development (OR, 1.14 [95% CI, 1.04-1.26]), and multiple domains (OR, 1.18 [95% CI, 1.09-1.27]). No significant associations were found in our matched sibling pair analysis, but effect sizes remained above 1 for physical health and social competences.

Conclusion:

More research is needed to determine whether fetal exposure to prenatal depression may predispose to childhood vulnerability on physical health and well-being, language and cognition, and socio-emotional domains.

Impact:

Prenatal depression is common (9-22% of pregnancies) and research has suggested a negative impact on the developing fetal brain but data on long term child development following prenatal depression is sparse. Using a unique population-based dataset with developmental data from children, we found increased risk for developmental vulnerability in physical health and well-being and socio-emotional development. Sibling matched analyses suggested the presence of some residual confounding and associations were no longer statistically significant but effects sizes did not substantially attenuate for physical health and social competence.

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