Cited by 45Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and PostpartumChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentPrenatal Substance Exposure Effects

Prenatal exposure to maternal and paternal depressive symptoms and white matter microstructure in children

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El Marroun, Hanan, Zou, Runyu, Muetzel, Ryan L., Jaddoe, Vincent W., Verhulst, Frank C., White, Tonya, Tiemeier, Henning·2018·Depression and Anxiety

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Prenatal maternal depression has been associated with multiple problems in offspring involving affect, cognition, and neuroendocrine functioning. This suggests that prenatal depression influences neurodevelopment. However, the underlying neurodevelopmental mechanism remains unclear. We prospectively assessed whether maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy and at the child's age 3 years are related to white matter microstructure in 690 children. The association of paternal depressive symptoms with childhood white matter microstructure was assessed to evaluate genetic or familial confounding. METHODS: Parental depressive symptoms were measured using the Brief Symptom Inventory. In children aged 6-9 years, we used diffusion tensor imaging to assess white matter microstructure characteristics including fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD). RESULTS: Exposure to maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy was associated with higher MD in the uncinate fasciculus and to lower FA and higher MD in the cingulum bundle. No associations of maternal depressive symptoms at the child's age of 3 years with white matter characteristics were observed. Paternal depressive symptoms also showed a trend toward significance for a lower FA in the cingulum bundle. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal maternal depressive symptoms were associated with higher MD in the uncinate fasciculus and the cingulum bundle. These structures are part of the limbic system, which is involved in motivation, emotion, learning, and memory. As paternal depressive symptoms were also related to lower FA in the cingulum, the observed effect may partly reflect a genetic predisposition and shared environmental family factors and to a lesser extent a specific intrauterine effect.

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  • Elevated prenatal maternal depression correlates with lower radial and mean diffusivity in the lateral portions of the uncinate, the inferior fronto-occipital, and the arcuate fasciculi.

    “In children, elevated prenatal maternal depression also correlates with lower radial and mean diffusivity in the lateral portions of the uncinate, the inferior fronto-occipital, and the arcuate fasciculi.”

    From Brain structural and functional outcomes in the offspring of women experiencing psychological distress during pregnancy (2024) · cites this paper as [20]

    Section 3.2 (Diffusivity; page not available) reports higher, not lower, mean diffusivity in the uncinate fasciculus with prenatal maternal depressive symptoms, and no association with mean diffusivity in the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. Section 2.4 says the study computed fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity; the cited passages do not report the claimed lower radial diffusivity or an arcuate-fasciculus result. (LLM, conf=0.90)

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  • Elevated prenatal maternal depression is associated with higher MD in the cingulum, amygdala-frontal tract, and uncinate fasciculus, and lower FA in the cingulum.

    “It is also associated with higher MD in the cingulum, amygdala-frontal tract, and uncinate fasciculus, and lower FA in the cingulum [20, 25, 95].”

    From Brain structural and functional outcomes in the offspring of women experiencing psychological distress during pregnancy (2024) · cites this paper as [20]

    Section 3.2 and Table 2 report higher MD in the cingulum, but the association for the uncinate fasciculus overall is a trend (P = .054), with a significant result on the left only. Section 3.1 and Table 2 report lower FA in the right cingulum; the overall cingulum result is also a trend. The paper does not report higher MD in an amygdala-frontal tract. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.89)

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  1. S0033291709990894 · DOI · Paper page

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Authors
El Marroun, H., Zou, R., Muetzel, R. L., Jaddoe, V. W., Verhulst, F. C., White, T., & Tiemeier, H.
Affiliations
  • The Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus MC; Sophia Children's Hospital; Rotterdam The Netherlands
  • Erasmus MC (NL)
  • University of Copenhagen (DK)
Venue
Depression and Anxiety
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2018-02-02
Volume
35
Issue
4
Pages
321-329
ISSN
1091-4269 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2793596528
Cited by
45
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 1
FWCI
4.52
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Depression and Anxiety (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
  • Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
  • European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (633595)
  • Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (10.000.1003, TOP 40-00812-98-11021)
  • European Community's 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2008-2013, 212652)
  • NWO Physical Sciences Division (Exacte Wetenschappen) and SURFsara (Lisa compute cluster)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects
Keywords
antenatal depression, maternal depressive symptoms, paternal depressive symptoms, white matter microstructure, fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, uncinate fasciculus, cingulum, limbic system, brain development, genetic confounding, shared environmental factors
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Child, Child, Preschool, Depression, Fathers, Female, Humans, Male, Mothers, Pregnancy, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects, Child of Impaired Parents, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, White Matter

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