Department of Pediatrics, University of California Irvine, Orange 92868, USA.
Stress. 2011 Nov;14(6):665-76. doi: 10.3109/10253890.2011.623250.
Because fetal brain development proceeds at an extremely rapid pace, early life experiences have the potential to alter the trajectory of neurodevelopment, which may increase susceptibility for developmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. There is evidence that prenatal maternal stress and anxiety, especially worries specifically related to being pregnant, influence neurodevelopmental outcomes. In the current prospective longitudinal study, we included 89 women for whom serial data were available for pregnancy-specific anxiety, state anxiety, and depression at 15, 19, 25, 31, and 37 weeks gestation. When the offspring from the target pregnancy were between 6 and 9 years of age, their executive function was assessed. High levels of mean maternal pregnancy-specific anxiety over the course of gestation were associated with lower inhibitory control in girls only and lower visuospatial working memory performance in boys and girls. Higher-state anxiety and depression also were associated with lower visuospatial working memory performance. However, neither state anxiety nor depression explained any additional variance after accounting for pregnancy-specific anxiety. The findings contribute to the literature supporting an association between pregnancy-specific anxiety and cognitive development and extend our knowledge about the persistence of this effect until middle childhood.
由于胎儿大脑发育的速度非常快，早期的生活经历有可能改变神经发育的轨迹，从而增加发育和神经精神障碍的易感性。有证据表明，产前的母亲压力和焦虑，特别是与怀孕相关的担忧，会影响神经发育的结果。在当前的前瞻性纵向研究中，我们纳入了 89 名女性，她们在妊娠 15、19、25、31 和 37 周时的妊娠特异性焦虑、状态焦虑和抑郁的连续数据可用。当目标妊娠的孩子在 6 到 9 岁之间时，我们评估了他们的执行功能。妊娠特异性焦虑在整个孕期的平均水平较高与女孩的抑制控制能力较低有关，与男孩和女孩的视觉空间工作记忆表现较低有关。较高的状态焦虑和抑郁也与较低的视觉空间工作记忆表现有关。然而，在考虑了妊娠特异性焦虑后，状态焦虑和抑郁都没有解释任何额外的差异。这些发现为支持妊娠特异性焦虑与认知发展之间存在关联的文献做出了贡献，并扩展了我们对这种影响持续到儿童中期的认识。
