López-Morales Hernán, Canet-Juric Lorena, Del-Valle Macarena Verónica, Sosa Julieta Mariel, López Marcela Carolina, Urquijo Sebastián
Instituto de Psicología Básica Aplicada y Tecnología (IPSIBAT), Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (UNMDP), Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Eur J Pediatr. 2023 Sep;182(9):4213-4226. doi: 10.1007/s00431-023-05112-y. Epub 2023 Jul 15.
Prenatal anxiety and depression in pandemic context could introduce changes in the fetal developmental trajectories that, ultimately, could alter the adaptive behaviors of the offspring, potentially affecting, for example, general neurodevelopment. The sample consisted of 105 mother-child dyads, recruited between March and May 2020. The dyads were evaluated longitudinally, prenatally and postnatally (6 months). The Pandemic Impact Questionnaire, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Beck-II Depression Inventory were used to assess indicators of maternal anxiety and depression, respectively. Regarding the babies, their mothers responded to Age and Stages: 3, which assesses different dimensions of early neurodevelopment, in addition to a closed questionnaire to identify sociodemographic and maternal and child health variables. A series of mediation models were tested to examine the association between prenatal psychopathology/negative experiences of the pandemic and neurodevelopment. The results indicated that the negative experiences of the pandemic were indirectly associated with the socio-individual and fine motor neurodevelopment of the offspring, through maternal anxiety symptoms, during the third trimester, which functioned as a mediator. Conclusions: This study provides evidence on the mediating effects of maternal anxiety on infant neurodevelopment in contexts of early adversity. It is important to point out the need to implement public health policies that allow a timely evaluation of neurodevelopmental variables during early childhood, which can implement early interventions to reduce the risks associated with these deficits. What is Known: • Effects of maternal mental health have been reported, effects on child neurodevelopment, in motor, cognitive, linguistic and socio-emotional dimensions. • Contexts of early adversity have been associated with maternal mental health and offspring development. What is New: • The context of pandemic adversity caused by COVID-19 is associated with motor and socio-individual neurodevelopment, mediated by maternal prenatal anxiety.
疫情背景下的产前焦虑和抑郁可能会导致胎儿发育轨迹发生变化，最终可能改变后代的适应性行为，例如可能影响其总体神经发育。样本包括2020年3月至5月招募的105对母婴。这些母婴被纵向评估，包括产前和产后（6个月）。分别使用《疫情影响问卷》《状态-特质焦虑量表》和《贝克抑郁量表第二版》来评估母亲焦虑和抑郁的指标。对于婴儿，其母亲回答了《年龄与发育阶段问卷：第三版》，该问卷除了通过一份封闭式问卷来确定社会人口统计学以及母婴健康变量外，还评估早期神经发育的不同维度。测试了一系列中介模型，以检验产前心理病理学/疫情负面经历与神经发育之间的关联。结果表明，在孕晚期，疫情的负面经历通过母亲的焦虑症状与后代的社会个体和精细运动神经发育间接相关，母亲的焦虑症状起到了中介作用。结论：本研究为母亲焦虑在早期逆境背景下对婴儿神经发育的中介作用提供了证据。必须指出，需要实施公共卫生政策，以便在幼儿期及时评估神经发育变量，从而能够实施早期干预，以降低与这些缺陷相关的风险。已知信息：• 已有报道称母亲心理健康会对儿童神经发育在运动、认知、语言和社会情感维度产生影响。• 早期逆境背景与母亲心理健康和后代发育有关。新发现：• 由新冠疫情导致的逆境背景与运动及社会个体神经发育有关，母亲产前焦虑起到中介作用。
