ArticleBMJ open2022
Association of maternal depression and anxiety with toddler social-emotional and cognitive development in South Africa: a prospective cohort study.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- The epidemiology of maternal mental health in Africa: a systematic review.Archives of women's mental health · 2025Pooled it
- Pregnancy with multiple high-risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of global health · 2025Pooled it
- Caregiver Psychopathology, Resilience, and Their Associations with Social-Emotional Challenges of Young Children Affected by Armed Conflict in Colombia.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- The association between sleep duration and mental health among pregnant women in rural northwest China.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Association between maternal-child interaction, maternal depression and early child development: an observational sub-study in rural Zimbabwe.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Observational
- Identifying biomarkers of neurodevelopmental and mental health outcomes in a prospective longitudinal cohort of South African children: design and feasibility of the Safe Passage BONO study.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2026Article
- Clinical and socio-demographic characteristics associated with perinatal depression and human immunodeficiency virus.The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2026Article
- Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms and Associated Factors Among Reproductive Age Women in Khwisero, Western Kenya: A Longitudinal Community-based Study.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2025Article
- Screening young children for neurodevelopmental differences in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Perinatal and Childhood Risk Factors of Adverse Early Childhood Developmental Outcomes: A Systematic Review Using a Socioecological Model.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Prenatal maternal diabetes, comorbidities, and risk for neurodevelopmental impairment in the first two years.Pediatric research · 2025Article
- Prenatal maternal stress: triangulating evidence for intrauterine exposure effects on birth and early childhood outcomes across multiple approaches.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Exposure to Violence and Mental Health Outcomes Among Pre-schoolers in a South African Birth Cohort.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2024Article
- Predominant approaches to measuring pregnancy-related anxiety in Sub-saharan Africa: a scoping review.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Pilot study of relationship between prenatal stress during the COVID-19 pandemic and social-emotional development of 12-month-old children: the mediation effects of home environment.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2024Article
- Differential effects of prenatal psychological distress and positive mental health on offspring socioemotional development from infancy to adolescence: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2023Review
- Associations of adverse maternal experiences and diabetes on postnatal maternal depression and child social-emotional outcomes in a South African community cohort.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
- Maternal Experiences of Trauma and Toddler Multisensory Attention Skills in a South African Community Cohort.Infancy : the official journal of the International Society on Infant StudiesArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveA robust literature has identified associations between prenatal maternal depression and adverse child social-emotional and cognitive outcomes. The majority of prior research is from high-income countries despite increased reporting of perinatal depression in low/middle-income countries (LMICs). Additionally, despite the comorbidity between depression and anxiety, few prior studies have examined their joint impact on child neurodevelopment. The objective of the current analysis was to examine associations between prenatal maternal depression and anxiety with child social-emotional and cognitive development in a cohort from the Western Cape Province of South Africa.
designPrenatal maternal depression and anxiety were measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Scale at 20-24 weeks' gestation. Child neurobehaviour was assessed at age 3 using the Brief Infant-Toddler Social Emotional Assessment and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development III Screening Test (BSID-III ST). We used linear regression models to examine the independent and joint association between prenatal maternal depression, anxiety and child developmental outcomes.
resultsParticipants consisted of 600 maternal-infant dyads (274 females; gestational age at birth: 38.89 weeks±2.03). Children born to mothers with both prenatal depression and trait anxiety had higher social-emotional problems (mean difference: 4.66; 95% CI 3.43 to 5.90) compared with children born to mothers with no prenatal depression or trait anxiety, each condition alone, or compared with mothers with depression and state anxiety. Additionally, children born to mothers with prenatal maternal depression and trait anxiety had the greatest reduction in mean cognitive scores on the BSID-III ST (mean difference: -1.04; 95% CI -1.99 to -0.08).
conclusionsThe observed association between comorbid prenatal maternal depression and chronic anxiety with subsequent child social-emotional and cognitive development underscores the need for targeting mental health support among perinatal women in LMICs to improve long-term child neurobehavioural outcomes.
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