ArticleBiological psychiatry2022
Prenatal Maternal Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Associations With Infant Brain Connectivity.
Article in Biological psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed.
- Postnatal distress, neonatal cerebellar myelination and neurodevelopmental outcomes at 18 months.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Brain metabolite changes in neonates of mothers with SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy: a case-control study.Pediatric radiology · 2026Article
- Disrupted beginnings: Neurodevelopmental outcomes of COVID-19 lockdowns in early childhood (Review).Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2026Review
- Perinatal hardship and infant neurodevelopment: insights from a global pandemic.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Article
- Social Determinants of Health and Early Brain Development.Pediatric clinics of North America · 2025Review
- COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Prenatal Distress and Infant Functional Brain Development.JAACAP open · 2025Article
- Structural brain differences in school-aged children who are HIV-exposed uninfected.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- The association between prenatal maternal anxiety, infant brain volumes, and temperament during the COVID-19 pandemic.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Association between maternal mental health, the COVID-19 pandemic, and children's developmental outcomes in Scotland.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2025Article
- Prevalence and risk factors for antenatal anxiety in the first trimester among Chinese pregnant women.General psychiatry · 2025Article
- Coping styles, strategies and psychological distress amongst perinatal individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic: a rapid review.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Review
- Advances in fetal and neonatal neuroimaging and everyday exposures.Pediatric research · 2024Review
- Assessing prenatal and early childhood social and environmental determinants of health in the HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD).Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2024Article
- Brain structural and functional outcomes in the offspring of women experiencing psychological distress during pregnancy.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Review
- Developmental trajectories of the default mode, frontoparietal, and salience networks from the third trimester through the newborn period.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2024Article
- Maternal anxiety during pregnancy is associated with weaker prefrontal functional connectivity in adult offspring.Brain imaging and behavior · 2023Article
- Prenatal exposure to environmental air pollution and psychosocial stress jointly contribute to the epigenetic regulation of the serotonin transporter gene in newborns.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Article
- Impact of perinatal COVID on fetal and neonatal brain and neurodevelopmental outcomes.Seminars in fetal & neonatal medicine · 2023Review
- Brain MRI segmentation of Zika-Exposed normocephalic infants shows smaller amygdala volumes.PloS one · 2023Article
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6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused substantially elevated distress in pregnant individuals, which has the potential to affect the developing infant brain. Our main objective was to understand how prenatal distress was related to infant brain structure and function and whether social support moderated the associations.
methodsThe Pregnancy during the COVID-19 Pandemic (PdP) cohort study collected Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Anxiety scale, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and Social Support Effectiveness Questionnaire data from a population-based sample of pregnant individuals living in Canada (N = 8602). For a subsample of participants, their infants (n = 75) underwent magnetic resonance imaging at 3 months of age to examine whether prenatal maternal distress was associated with infant brain architecture, including the role of social support as a potential protective factor.
resultsOverall, 33.4% of participants demonstrated clinically elevated depression symptoms and 47.1% of participants demonstrated clinically elevated anxiety symptoms. We identified lower social support as a significant predictor of clinically elevated prenatal maternal distress (t
conclusionsOur findings suggest a potentially long-lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and show that social support acts as a possible mediator not just for pregnant individuals but also developing infants. These findings provide timely evidence to inform clinical practice and policy surrounding the care of pregnant individuals and highlight the importance of social support.
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