Sridhar Harikrupa, Kishore M Thomas, Chandra Prabha S
Department of clinical psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, India.
Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, India.
Arch Womens Ment Health. 2025 Feb;28(1):113-128. doi: 10.1007/s00737-024-01485-7. Epub 2024 Jun 19.
This systematic review aims to summarize the findings of empirical studies conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) examining the relationship between postpartum depression and anxiety, and child developmental outcomes measured at 24 months of child's age.
The study was performed as per PRISMA guidelines for a systematic review. EBESCO, ProQuest, PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, and BMJ databases were examined, along with a forward and backward examination of the citations published. The New Ottawa scales (NOS) was used to assess the quality of the studies. The findings of the studies were integrated using a narrative synthesis approach.
The systematic review revealed that there are 14 studies examining the impact of postpartum depression (n=14) and postpartum anxiety (n=2) across different domains of child development in LMICs. Studies varied regarding the severity and duration of maternal depression, the context and nature of evaluation, and motherinfant characteristics which are important to understand the association between postpartum depression and anxiety and infant development. Maternal depression is negatively associated with language development, socio-emotional and behavioural development while its association with motor and cognitive development is inconsistent. The impact of maternal anxiety on infant development was examined in two studies, and both have identified a negative association. However, the results of the current review need to be interpreted within the scope and limitations of the methodologies adopted by each study details of which are elaborated in the manuscript.
Postpartum depression and anxiety can have a wide range of effects on child development. Therefore, periodic infant developmental assessments should become part of routine psychiatric evaluation. There is a need for uniform guidelines for conducting studies and reporting data related to postpartum mental health and child development.
本系统评价旨在总结在低收入和中等收入国家（LMICs）进行的实证研究结果，这些研究考察了产后抑郁和焦虑与儿童24个月时测量的发育结果之间的关系。
本研究按照系统评价的PRISMA指南进行。检索了EBESCO、ProQuest、PubMed、Science Direct、谷歌学术和BMJ数据库，并对已发表文献进行了前后向检索。使用新渥太华量表（NOS）评估研究质量。采用叙述性综合方法整合研究结果。
系统评价显示，有14项研究考察了低收入和中等收入国家产后抑郁（n = 14）和产后焦虑（n = 2）对儿童不同发育领域的影响。在母亲抑郁的严重程度和持续时间、评估的背景和性质以及母婴特征方面，研究存在差异，这些对于理解产后抑郁和焦虑与婴儿发育之间的关联很重要。母亲抑郁与语言发育、社会情感和行为发育呈负相关，而其与运动和认知发育的关联则不一致。两项研究考察了母亲焦虑对婴儿发育的影响，均发现存在负相关。然而，本综述的结果需要在每项研究所采用方法的范围和局限性内进行解释，手稿中详细阐述了这些方法的细节。
产后抑郁和焦虑会对儿童发育产生广泛影响。因此，定期的婴儿发育评估应成为常规精神病学评估的一部分。需要有统一的指南来开展与产后心理健康和儿童发育相关的研究并报告数据。
