Severo Melania, Ventriglio Antonio, Bellomo Antonello, Iuso Salvatore, Petito Annamaria
Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy.
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy.
Front Psychiatry. 2023 Mar 20;14:1151897. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1151897. eCollection 2023.
Pregnancy frequently is associated with emotional conditions such as anxiety and depression. Perinatal depression has an incidence of around 12%. Only recently researcher put the attention on the effects of pre- and postpartum psychopathology on infant neurocognitive development. Neurobiology studies indicate that perinatal maternal depression can significantly affect the structure and function of children's prefrontal cortex and modulate the development of cognitive abilities from intrauterine life. On the topic, the scientific literature appears ambiguous, reporting mixed results. Some studies have found no significant differences in developmental outcomes between prenatal and postpartum exposure to maternal depression, others have suggested a greater burden of depression in pregnancy than in postpartum, and still others have emphasized the role of chronicity of symptoms rather than the period of onset. Few studies have examined the effects of different developmental trajectories of maternal depression on children's neurocognitive outcomes. The assessment of maternal health has for years been limited to postpartum depression often neglecting the timing of onset, the intensity of symptoms and their chronicity. These aspects have received less attention than they deserve, especially in relation to the effects on children's neurocognitive development. The aim of this Perspective was to highlight inconsistencies and gaps that need to be filled in the approach to the study of this problem. Given the wide heterogeneity of data in the current literature, further studies are needed to clarify these interactions. This Perspective provides an overview of current progress, future directions, and a presentation of the authors' views on the topic.
怀孕常常与焦虑和抑郁等情绪状况相关。围产期抑郁症的发病率约为12%。直到最近，研究人员才开始关注产前和产后精神病理学对婴儿神经认知发育的影响。神经生物学研究表明，围产期母亲抑郁会显著影响儿童前额叶皮质的结构和功能，并从子宫内生活就对认知能力的发展产生调节作用。关于这个话题，科学文献的结果似乎并不明确，报道的结果不一。一些研究发现，产前和产后暴露于母亲抑郁的儿童在发育结果上没有显著差异，另一些研究则表明孕期抑郁比产后抑郁的负担更大，还有一些研究强调症状的慢性程度而非发病时期的作用。很少有研究考察母亲抑郁的不同发展轨迹对儿童神经认知结果的影响。多年来，对母亲健康的评估一直局限于产后抑郁症，常常忽略发病时间、症状强度及其慢性程度。这些方面没有得到应有的关注，尤其是在对儿童神经认知发育的影响方面。本观点文章的目的是突出在研究这个问题的方法上需要填补的不一致之处和空白。鉴于当前文献中数据的广泛异质性，需要进一步研究来阐明这些相互作用。本观点文章概述了当前的进展、未来的方向，并展示了作者对该主题的看法。
