Maternal Prenatal Depression Predicts Infant Negative Affect via Maternal Inflammatory Cytokine Levels

Publication date: Available online 18 June 2018 Source:Brain, Behavior, and Immunity Author(s): Hanna C. Gustafsson, Elinor L. Sullivan, Elizabeth K. Nousen, Ceri A. Sullivan, Elaine Huang, Monica Rincon, Joel T. Nigg, Jennifer M. Loftis Maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy are associated with risk for offspring emotional and behavioral problems, but the mechanisms by which this association occurs are not known. Infant elevated negative affect (increased crying, irritability, fearfulness, etc.) is a key risk factor for future psychopathology, so understanding its determinants has prevention and early intervention potential. An understudied yet promising hypothesis is that maternal mood affects infant mood via maternal prenatal inflammatory mechanisms, but this has not been prospectively examined in humans. Using data from a pilot study of women followed from the second trimester of pregnancy through six months postpartum (N = 68) our goal was to initiate a prospective study as to whether maternal inflammatory cytokines mediate the association between maternal depressive symptoms and infant offspring negative affect. The study sample was designed to examine a broad range of likely self-regulation and mood-regulation problems in offspring; to that end we over-selected women with a family history or their own history of elevated symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Results supported the hypothesis: maternal pro-inflammatory cytokines during th...
Source: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity - Category: Neurology Source Type: research