SynthesisEuropean child & adolescent psychiatry2019
The impact of maternal prenatal and postnatal anxiety on children's emotional problems: a systematic review.
Synthesis in European child & adolescent psychiatry, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 95 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
95 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 202 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between postnatal mental health-related hospitalisation and child development and education outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in global women's health · 2026Pooled it
- Child developmental outcomes associated with postpartum depression and anxiety in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review.Archives of women's mental health · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Psychological interventions targeting mental health and the mother-child relationship in autism: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Developmental medicine and child neurology · 2023Pooled it
- Association between Maternal Anxiety and Children's Problem Behaviors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- When birth is not as expected: a systematic review of the impact of a mismatch between expectations and experiences.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2021Pooled it
- Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Genetically Informed Research: Associations Between Parent Anxiety and Offspring Internalizing Problems.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Universal prevention of distress aimed at pregnant women: a systematic review and meta-analysis of psychological interventions.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2021Pooled it
- Maternal mental health and its influence on children's early development: Evidence from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.Infant mental health journal · 2026Article
- Testing a Developmental Cascade Model from Prenatal Maternal Emotion Dysregulation to Toddler Behavior Dysregulation Through Postnatal Parenting Stress and Infant Physiology.Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Resilience in the early postpartum period: Buffering the impact of maternal ACEs on infant socioemotional development.Infant mental health journal · 2026Article
- Low Pregnancy Cortisol and Infant Socioemotional Problems: The Mediating Role of Postpartum Depressive Symptoms.Developmental psychobiology · 2026Article
- Does Parental Presence Influence Child Performance on an Emotional Go/No-Go Task at Age 9.5? Exploring the Role of Puberty and Early Environmental Quality.Developmental science · 2026Article
- Interpretable prediction of anxiety symptoms during pregnancy via machine learning and SHAP.Archives of women's mental health · 2026Article
- Mother-Infant Interaction and Maternal Postnatal Psychological Distress Associate with Child's Social-Emotional Development During Early Childhood: A FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- Healthcare professionals' views on barriers, facilitators and optimisation of care for perinatal anxiety: a qualitative investigation.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Neuroplacentology of stress: Novel frontiers linking maternal mental health to offspring neurodevelopment.Neurobiology of stress · 2026Review
- Exploring the experiences of women of African, Caribbean and Mixed heritages to inform a music-based intervention for perinatal mental health in South East London: A qualitative study.PLOS mental health · 2026Article
- Development and reporting of a specialised antenatal music therapy intervention using the MRC framework and TIDieR checklist.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Disruption of a GalR2-mitochondrial axis in the ventral hippocampus contributes to depression-like phenotypes after prenatal stress.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
35 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Maternal mental health problems during pregnancy and the postnatal period are a major public health issue. Despite evidence that symptoms of both depression and anxiety are common during pregnancy and the postpartum, the impact of maternal anxiety on the child has received relatively less attention than the impact of maternal depression. Furthermore, the evidence base for the direct impact of maternal anxiety during pregnancy and the postpartum on children's emotional outcomes lacks cohesion. The aim of this systematic review is to summarise the empirical evidence regarding the impact of maternal prenatal and postnatal anxiety on children's emotional outcomes. Overall, both maternal prenatal and postnatal anxiety have a small adverse effect on child emotional outcomes. However, the evidence appears stronger for the negative impact of prenatal anxiety. Several methodological weaknesses make conclusions problematic and replication of findings is required to improve the identification of at-risk parents and children with appropriate opportunities for intervention and prevention.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.