Pre- and Post-Natal Maternal Depressive Symptoms in Relation with Infant Frontal Function, Connectivity, and Behaviors

Abstract

This study investigated the relationships between pre- and early post-natal maternal depression and their changes with frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) activity and functional connectivity in 6- and 18-month olds, as well as externalizing and internalizing behaviors in 24-month olds (n = 258). Neither prenatal nor postnatal maternal depressive symptoms independently predicted neither the frontal EEG activity nor functional connectivity in 6- and 18-month infants. However, increasing maternal depressive symptoms from the prenatal to postnatal period predicted greater right frontal activity and relative right frontal asymmetry amongst 6-month infants but these finding were not observed amongst 18-month infants after adjusted for post-conceptual age on the EEG visit day. Subsequently increasing maternal depressive symptoms from the prenatal to postnatal period predicted lower right frontal connectivity within 18-month infants but not among 6-month infants after controlling for post-conceptual age on the EEG visit day. These findings were observed in the full sample and the female sample but not in the male sample. Moreover, both prenatal and early postnatal maternal depressive symptoms independently predicted children’s externalizing and internalizing behaviors at 24 months of age. This suggests that the altered frontal functional connectivity in infants born to mothers whose depressive symptomatology increases in the early postnatal period compared to that during pregnancy may reflect a neural basis for the familial transmission of phenotypes associated with mood disorders, particularly in girls.

Sex Differences in Vulnerability to Prenatal Stress: a Review of the Recent Literature

“…Wen et al ( N  = 235) reported a sex-specific association whereby prenatal depression was positively associated with greater right amygdala volume in 4.5-year-old girls, but not boys [63]. Data from the same study team ( N  = 258) showed that, among girls only, increases in maternal depressive symptoms from 26-week gestation to 3 months postpartum were associated with greater infant right frontal lobe activity and greater right frontal asymmetry at age 6 months and greater lower right frontal functional connectivity at age 18 months [61•]. Kim et al ( N  = 49) found that, among girls only, prenatal exposure to maternal cortisol was associated with altered neural activity and connectivity at ages 6–9, which in turn mediated the association between prenatal cortisol and internalizing symptoms [70•].…”

“…Investigators from the Rhea Study ( N  = 288) found no evidence of sex dependence in the association between prenatal psychopathology symptoms and 4-year-old behavioral outcomes [27]. Data from the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort ( N  = 258) showed that maternal prenatal depressive symptoms were positively associated with both internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age 2 among girls, but only internalizing symptoms in boys [61•]. In a study of young African-American mothers and their offspring ( N  = 196), prenatal depressive symptoms were indirectly associated with increased child social/emotional problems at age 2 through postnatal maternal depressive symptoms and maternal parenting sensitivity, but this effect was significant only among boys [73].…”

“…Six reported significant PNMS*sex interactions. The preponderance of evidence suggests that girls may be particularly vulnerable to PNMS programming, altering neural structure, function, and neuroendocrine sensitivity in a manner that confers risk for anxiety and affective pathology [61•, 63, 70•]. One study found evidence that these neural sequelae may mediate PNMS effects on internalizing symptoms [70•].…”

Developmental Connectomics from Infancy through Early Childhood

“…For instance, postnantal exposure to inter-parental conflict was significantly associated with higher integration among default mode regions in infants, potentially leading to higher negative infant emotionality [83]. Maternal depression significantly altered the functional connectivity of the amygdala in 6-month infants [84] and of the frontal regions in 18 month infants [85]. …”

Infant Behavior and Competence Following Prenatal Exposure to a Natural Disaster: The QF2011 Queensland Flood Study

“…Accordingly, it may be an individual's subjective experience of an event that may be most important when considering the impact of PNMS on fetal development. Indeed, most studies examining the effects of PNMS on behavior during early childhood have done so using subjective measures of psychological stress and distress, such as symptoms of anxiety and depression or perceived impact of a life event (O'Connor, Heron, Golding, et al., ; Pickles, Sharp, Hellier, & Hill, ; Soe et al., ; Zhu et al., ). Studies finding an effect of more objective measures of PNMS (e.g., frequency of certain stressful life events) on child outcomes did not control for the appraisal or emotional distress associated with these experiences (Lin et al., ; Robinson et al., ; Ronald, Pennell, & Whitehouse, ).…”