COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Prenatal Distress and Infant Functional Brain Development

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Maternal Health

Background:

• Prenatal psychological distress (anxiety, depression) can negatively impact fetal brain development and infant behavior.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with increased prenatal distress, raising concerns about infant neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between prenatal maternal distress and infant brain functional connectivity.
• To examine the association between prenatal maternal distress and infant behavior.
• To explore potential links between infant brain connectivity and behavior in the context of maternal prenatal distress.

Main Methods:

• Investigated 63 mother-infant pairs from the Pregnancy during the COVID-19 Pandemic study.
• Mothers reported depression and anxiety symptoms during pregnancy, creating a prenatal maternal distress measure.
• Infant brain resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) was obtained at 3 months; infant behavior was assessed at 6 and 12 months using the IBQ-R and ASQ-3.

Main Results:

• Higher prenatal maternal distress correlated with stronger functional connectivity in the infant auditory network (p=0.01).
• Prenatal maternal distress was associated with higher infant ASQ-3 personal-social scores (p=0.006).
• No significant associations were found between infant brain connectivity and infant behavior.

Conclusions:

• Early-developing brain networks, like the auditory network, may show effects of maternal prenatal distress.
• The association between prenatal distress and infant behavior scores might indicate compensatory mechanisms requiring further investigation.
• Long-term behavioral manifestations of prenatal distress exposure warrant additional research.