ArticleBMC pregnancy and childbirth2021
Maternal depressive symptoms and stress during pregnancy as predictors of gestational age at birth and standardized body mass index from birth up to 2 years of age.
Article in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- Maternal depression during pregnancy and children's physical development.Journal of biomedical research · 2025Article
- Paracetamol use in pregnancy - caution over causal inference from available data.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWhile depressive symptoms and stress during pregnancy are known to affect gestational age and weight at birth, evidence on their impact on child anthropometric development in the long term remains limited, showing inconsistent effects. Importantly, previous research indicated a substantially stronger impact of categorically rather than dimensionally assessed mental health problems on birth outcomes and child development.
methodsThe Patient Health Questionnaire was used to assess depressive symptoms and stress during the 2nd trimester of pregnancy dimensionally and categorically, with scores ≥10 indicating clinical significance. Gestational age at birth and BMI-SDS from birth up to 2 years of age were examined as dependent variables. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the prediction of birth outcomes and child anthropometry by mental health problems while controlling for multiple maternal and child characteristics in 322 mother-child dyads.
resultsDimensionally assessed mental health problems did not significantly predict birth outcomes. While categorical depressive symptoms significantly predicted a higher child BMI-SDS, categorical stress significantly predicted a lower gestational age at birth. Neither categorical nor dimensional mental health problems significantly predicted child BMI-SDS at 6, 12, and 24 months postpartum.
conclusionsDepressive symptoms and stress during pregnancy seem to differentially affect birth outcomes, and only if clinically relevant. The results implicate the importance to timely treat pregnant women that are greatly affected by mental health problems to potentially reduce adverse birth outcomes.
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