A study by the University of Cape Town (UCT) has found that stress, anxiety and depression during pregnancy may affect how a young child’s brain develops, with changes seen as early as two to three years of age.
The study found that children whose mothers experienced psychological distress while pregnant had weaker communication between brain regions responsible for processing and controlling emotions.
This is according to researchers, Prof Kirsty Donald and Dr Marlie Miles, who studied 111 children aged two to three from the Drakenstein Child Health Study, a long-running South African birth study.
They used brain scans to compare children whose mothers experienced psychological distress during pregnancy with those whose mothers did not.
“We found weaker connections between the amygdala, the part of the brain that detects emotional signals, and areas of the prefrontal cortex that help control emotions and behaviour,” they said.
The differences remained even after researchers considered other factors such as the child’s age, sex, exposure to alcohol and tobacco during pregnancy, and the mother’s HIV status.
The study adds to growing evidence that mental health support should form part of routine pregnancy care. We believe improving mental health services for pregnant women could benefit both mothers and their children by supporting healthier brain development before birth
— Dr Marlie Miles
Donald, deputy director of the UCT Neuroscience Institute, said the findings show pregnancy is a critical period for brain development.
“Our findings suggest that the effects of psychological distress during pregnancy can be detected in the developing brain during the first years of life,” she said.
“They reinforce the idea that supporting maternal mental health is an important investment in children’s long-term wellbeing.”
The researchers said the findings are particularly important because most previous studies have been done in high-income countries.
Women in low- and middle-income countries, including South Africa, often face added challenges such as poverty, food insecurity, violence and limited access to mental health care, increasing their risk of psychological distress during pregnancy.
The study also looked at children’s behaviour. While children exposed to maternal distress showed a tendency towards more aggressive behaviour by the age of three-and-a-half, the finding was not strong enough to confirm a direct link.
However, researchers found that stronger communication between other brain regions was linked to fewer attention problems, suggesting these brain networks may play an important role in children’s emotional and behavioural development.
Miles said the behavioural findings should be interpreted with caution but could help researchers better understand how early brain development influences later emotional and behavioural health.
“The study adds to growing evidence that mental health support should form part of routine pregnancy care,” she said.
“We believe improving mental health services for pregnant women could benefit both mothers and their children by supporting healthier brain development before birth.”
TimesLIVE
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