Table 1 Effects of maternal antenatal stress and anxiety on outcomes for infants and children
From: Early origins of mental disorder - risk factors in the perinatal and infant period
Infant and child outcomes | |
|---|---|
Infant temperament | |
• Reduced attention regulation at 3 and 8 months [1] • Greater child fearfulness scores 14–19 months [2] | |
Development and cognitive functioning | |
• Lower Bayley Scales Mental Development Index (MDI) and Psychosocial Development Index (PDI) scores at 8 months [3] • Lower Bayley Scales MDI scores at 1–2 years [4] • Lower productive language scores at 2 years [5] • Poorer verbal intelligence and language skills at 5 ½ years [6] • Lower inhibitory control at 6–9 years [7] • Impulsive response pattern on cognitive tasks at 14/15 years [8] | |
Emotional and behavioural problems | |
• Greater total problem behaviour at 27 months, 4 years and 81 months [9–11] • Greater hyperactivity/inattention in boys at 8–9 years [12] • Greater externalising problems 8–9 years [13] • Greater anxiety aged 6–9 years [14] • Greater internalising difficulties in 7–8 years [15] • Greater depressive symptoms in adolescence [16] | |
Structural brain changes | |
• Reduced head circumference corrected for birth weight [17, 18] • Reduced grey matter in prefrontal cortex, medial and lateral temporal lobe, postcentral gyrus and cerebellum on MRI scan at 6–9 years [19] |