87 Prenatal maternal mental distress impairs newborn amygdala growth and infant neurodevelopment at 18 months

Abstract

Prenatal maternal mental distress is increasingly associated with adverse outcomes in fetal brain development. However, the association between prenatal maternal mental distress and neonatal brain growth as well as infants’ long-term neurodevelopment remains unclear. This study aims to determine the association between prenatal maternal stress, anxiety, and depression and postnatal brain growth as well as infant neurodevelopmental outcomes at 18 months. We prospectively recruited women with normal pregnancies. Prenatal maternal stress, anxiety, and depression were measured using the Perceived Stress Scale, Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, respectively. Neonates were scanned on a 3T MRI scanner with an 8-channel HiRes brain array receive only coil (T2-weighted 3D CUBE sequence; TR/TE: 2500/64.7 ms; flip angle: 90°; resolution: 0.625×0.625×1 mm3). Neonatal brain MR images were segmented into cortical grey matter, white matter, deep grey matter, cerebellum, brainstem, left and right hippocampus and amygdala using Draw-EM pipeline and then manually corrected. Infant neurodevelopment was evaluated using Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development III at 18 months. We studied 116 pregnant women, of which 96 completed mental distress measures twice at different gestational ages (32.0±4.5, 23-40 gestational weeks); 101 newborns underwent postnatal MRI (41.9±1.9, 38-47 gestational weeks); and 87 infants completed neurodevelopmental testing at 18 months. Prenatal maternal anxiety was associated with smaller left and right amygdala volumes in newborns and lower cognitive scores in infants at 18 months. Prenatal maternal stress was also associated with decreased cognitive and motor scores at 18 months. We report that prenatal maternal mental distress is associated with impaired amygdala growth in newborns and delayed cognitive and motor skills in infants at 18 months. Our data suggest maternal mental distress during pregnancy has long-term neurodevelopmental consequences.