Association of maternal prenatal depressive symptoms with child cognition at age 3 years
Corresponding Author
Alison C. Tse
Departments of Epidemiology and
Ms Alison Tse, Department of Epidemiology, Kresge 9th Floor, 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorJanet W. Rich-Edwards
Departments of Epidemiology and
Connors Center for Women's Health and Gender Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorSheryl L. Rifas-Shiman
Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, and
Search for more papers by this authorMatthew W. Gillman
Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health,
Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, and
Search for more papers by this authorEmily Oken
Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, and
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Alison C. Tse
Departments of Epidemiology and
Ms Alison Tse, Department of Epidemiology, Kresge 9th Floor, 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorJanet W. Rich-Edwards
Departments of Epidemiology and
Connors Center for Women's Health and Gender Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorSheryl L. Rifas-Shiman
Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, and
Search for more papers by this authorMatthew W. Gillman
Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health,
Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, and
Search for more papers by this authorEmily Oken
Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, and
Search for more papers by this authorSummary
Tse AC, Rich-Edwards JW, Rifas-Shiman SL, Gillman MW, Oken E. Association of maternal prenatal depressive symptoms with child cognition at age 3 years. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 2010; 24: 232–240.
We examined the association of prenatal depressive symptoms at mid-pregnancy with child cognition at age 3 years in Project Viva, a pre-birth cohort study of 1030 mother–child pairs in eastern Massachusetts. We measured maternal depressive symptoms using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), a self-report measure validated for use during pregnancy. Measures of child cognition included the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and the Wide Range Achievement of Visual Motor Abilities (WRAVMA).
At mid-pregnancy, 81 mothers (7.9%) scored 13 or above on the EPDS, indicating probable depression. In the unadjusted model, children born to mothers with prenatal depressive symptoms had PPVT scores that were 3.8 points lower [95% confidence interval (CI) −7.1, −0.5]. With adjustment for sociodemographic variables, the association substantially attenuated [adjusted regression coefficient b for PPVT score = −0.7 (95% CI −3.6, 2.3)]. In both unadjusted and multivariable models, prenatal depressive symptoms were not associated with WRAVMA scores [adjusted b for total WRAVMA score = −0.5 (95% CI −3.0, 2.1)]. We found no evidence to suggest that maternal prenatal depression is independently associated with early child cognition.
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