Brigham and Women's Hospital, Department of Pediatric Newborn Medicine, 75 Francis St, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department Pediatrics - Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
Early Hum Dev. 2021 Mar;154:105278. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2020.105278. Epub 2020 Nov 16.
High-risk infants hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) often receive life-saving interventions during a critical period of development, when their brain is highly sensitive to both positive and negative environmental factors. It is no surprise that this time is particularly challenging for families. In fact, parents of hospitalized newborns are likely to experience clinically-significant symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. These symptoms have the potential to impact the nature and quality of the early parent-infant relationship and can lead to long-term problematic consequences for the infant and the family. As such, perinatal parent mental health represents a key factor that impacts outcomes of high-risk children. We discuss future practices to optimize the wellbeing of NICU infants and their families in the long-term, including increasing awareness and screening for parent mental health in the NICU, as well as building systems for support and early intervention.
高危婴儿在新生儿重症监护病房（NICU）住院期间，大脑在发育的关键时期对积极和消极的环境因素都高度敏感，经常接受挽救生命的干预措施。这段时间对家庭来说特别具有挑战性，这并不奇怪。事实上，住院新生儿的父母很可能会出现明显的压力、焦虑和抑郁症状。这些症状有可能影响早期母婴关系的性质和质量，并可能对婴儿和家庭造成长期的问题后果。因此，围产期父母的心理健康是影响高危儿童预后的关键因素。我们讨论了未来的实践，以优化 NICU 婴儿及其家庭的长期幸福感，包括提高 NICU 中父母心理健康的意识和筛查，以及建立支持和早期干预的系统。
