Does maternal postpartum depression affect children's developmental outcomes?

AIM

The etiology of maternal postpartum depression (PPD) remains inconclusive, and there is no consensus concerning whether maternal PPD affects children's developmental outcomes. Consequently, in this literature review, we examined whether maternal PPD affects children's physical, neuromotor, language and general cognitive development.

METHODS

We conducted an electronic search using PubMed to select case-control and cohort studies that addressed maternal depression, depressive episodes or depressive symptoms among postpartum (within 6 months) women. We omitted studies that focused on a specific population (e.g. preterm infants).

RESULTS

The methodological problems of prior studies indicate that their findings must be interpreted with caution. Insufficient and or inconsistent evidence has supported associations between maternal PPD and children's developmental trajectories. Nevertheless, some key studies have revealed findings that require further analysis, including the associations between maternal PPD and children's stunted growth/being underweight in developed countries, the slight delay in children's fine motor development, and in children's language development.

CONCLUSION

Although several studies have investigated the longstanding effects of maternal PPD on children's physical and neurodevelopment, no conclusive evidence has elucidated a relationship between maternal PPD and all four domains of child development - physical, neuromotor, language and general cognitive ability. Therefore, large-scale, longitudinal studies with a long-term follow-up period - extending to school age and beyond - are needed. Moreover, confounding factors should be carefully considered. Specifically, household income, parental education, breastfeeding, bonding/attachment and paternal mental health may be associated with maternal mental health and children's neurodevelopment.