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Review
. 2022 Nov 11;23(22):13932.
doi: 10.3390/ijms232213932.

Maternal Distress during Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period: Underlying Mechanisms and Child's Developmental Outcomes-A Narrative Review

Ljiljana Jeličić  1   2 , Aleksandra Veselinović  1   2 , Milica Ćirović  1   2 , Vladimir Jakovljević  3   4 , Saša Raičević  5   6 , Miško Subotić  1
Affiliations
Review

Maternal Distress during Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period: Underlying Mechanisms and Child's Developmental Outcomes-A Narrative Review

Ljiljana Jeličić et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Maternal mental health may be considered a determining factor influencing fetal and child development. An essential factor with potentially negative consequences for a child's psychophysiological development is the presence of maternal distress during pregnancy and the postpartum period. The review is organized and presented to explore and describe the effects of anxiety, stress, and depression in pregnancy and the postpartum period on adverse child developmental outcomes. The neurobiology of maternal distress and the transmission mechanisms at the molecular level to the fetus and child are noted. In addition, the paper discusses the findings of longitudinal studies in which early child development is monitored concerning the presence of maternal distress in pregnancy and the postpartum period. This topic gained importance in the COVID-19 pandemic context, during which a higher frequency of maternal psychological disorders was observed. The need for further interdisciplinary research on the relationship between maternal mental health and fetal/child development was highlighted, especially on the biological mechanisms underlying the transmission of maternal distress to the (unborn) child, to achieve positive developmental outcomes and improve maternal and child well-being.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; anxiety; child development; depression; developmental outcomes; maternal distress; perinatal mental health; stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Maternal distress transmission: placental and breastfeeding mechanisms.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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