Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41655852›Full record

ArticleJournal of affective disorders2026

Maternal antenatal depression and offspring DNA methylation.

Diane L Putnick, Akhgar Ghassabian, Weihua Guan, Pauline Mendola, Rajeshwari Sundaram, Edwina Yeung

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of affective disorders, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Diane L PutnickEpidemiology Branch, Division of Population Health Research, Division of Intramural Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 6710B Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD 20817, United States of America. Electronic address: putnickd@mail.nih.gov.
Akhgar GhassabianDepartments of Pediatrics and Population Health, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, 227 East 30th. St. 6th Floor, Room 618, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. Electronic address: Akhgar.Ghassabian@nyulangone.org.
Weihua GuanDivision of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, University Office Plaza, Ste 200, 2221 University Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414, United States of America. Electronic address: wguan@umn.edu.
Pauline MendolaDepartment of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, University at Buffalo, School of Public Health and Health Professions, 3435 Main St., Buffalo, NY 14214, United States of America. Electronic address: pmendola@buffalo.edu.
Rajeshwari SundaramBiostatistics and Bioinformatics Branch, Division of Population Health Research, Division of Intramural Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 6710B Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD 20817, United States of America. Electronic address: sundaramr2@mail.nih.gov.
Edwina YeungEpidemiology Branch, Division of Population Health Research, Division of Intramural Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 6710B Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, MD 20817, United States of America. Electronic address: Edwina.Yeung@nih.gov.

Funding

Intramural NIH HHS Z99 HD999999NICHD NIH HHS HHSN267200700019CNICHD NIH HHS HHSN275201200005CNICHD NIH HHS HHSN275201300026INICHD NIH HHS HHSN275201400013C
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveResearch on the link between antenatal depression and alterations in offspring DNA methylation is sparse and inconsistent. This study aimed to provide a robust and rigorous test of the association between maternal antenatal depression and offspring DNA methylation in neonatal and middle childhood (8-10 years) periods.

methodsModerate to severe maternal antenatal depression was identified via a combination of diagnosis codes from outpatient and inpatient encounters during pregnancy and self-reported symptom severity on birth certificates. Offspring DNA methylation was quantified from dried blood spot and venous blood samples in the neonatal and middle childhood periods, respectively.

resultsOf 733 mothers with available data in the neonatal period, 53 (7%) experienced moderate to severe antenatal depression. In middle childhood, 15 (9%) of the 161 mothers with available data experienced moderate to severe antenatal depression. In the neonatal period, no probes passed false discovery rate (FDR) correction. In middle childhood, antenatal depression was associated with hypomethylation at two probes after adjustment and FDR correction: cg06112204 (in MAD1L1; β = -1.68, SE = 0.29) and cg17830140 (in POLRMT, β = -1.94, SE = 0.36). Both probes had a similar direction and magnitude when controlling for postnatal depression (β = -1.71, SE = 0.34 and β = -1.78, SE = 0.42, respectively). cg06112204 was also hypomethylated in the neonatal sample (β = -0.49, SE = 0.21), but cg17830140 was not (β = 0.07, SE = 0.22).

conclusionsMethylation of other probes in the MAD1L1 gene have previously been associated with depression phenotypes in adolescents and adults, lending credibility to the finding that antenatal depression is associated with hypomethylation of cg06112204 in offspring.

Indexed as

Depressive DisorderDNA MethylationPregnancy ComplicationsPrenatal Exposure Delayed EffectsAdultChildEpigenesis, GeneticFemaleHumansInfant, NewbornMalePregnancyAntenatal depressionDNA methylationEpigenetics

Identifiers

PMID41655852
PMCPMC13261350

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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.