Weekly Roundup for MARCH 5, 2021: Recent Publications in Women’s Mental Health

By | March 8, 2021

Postpartum depression and infant development up to 24 months: A nationwide population-based study.

Lubotzky-Gete S, Ornoy A, Grotto I, Calderon-Margalit R.  J Affect Disord. 2021 Feb 20;285:136-143. 

From Israel, PPD was associated with about 1.5 times increased odds of delays in personal-social skills, including reacting to voices (OR=1.43, 95% CI: 1.22-1.67) and pointing to selected objects (OR=1.47 95% CI: 1.10-1.97). Associations were also seen with delays in fine motor and adaptive skills, such as pinching (OR=1.50, 95% CI: 1.20-1.86), and gross motor skills, such as ground crawling (OR=1.36, 95% CI: 1.15-1.60).


Maternal Depressive Symptoms During the Pre- and Postnatal Periods and Infant Attention to Emotional Faces.

Kataja EL, Karlsson L, Leppänen JM, Pelto J, Häikiö T, Nolvi S, Pesonen H, Parsons CE, Hyönä J, Karlsson H.  Child Dev. 2020 Mar;91(2):e475-e480.

Infants of depressed mothers displayed increased attention to fearful faces; this tendency appeared to be independent of the timing of the symptoms in the prenatal or  postnatal stages.


Maternal Distress and Offspring Neurodevelopment: Challenges and Opportunities for Pre-clinical Research Models.

Fitzgerald E, Parent C, Kee MZL, Meaney MJ. Front Hum Neurosci. 2021 Feb 12;15:635304. Free article.


Peripartum depression: Does risk versus diagnostic status impact mother-infant bonding and perceived social support?

Hare MM, Kroll-Desrosiers A, Deligiannidis KM.  Depress Anxiety. 2020 Dec 7. 

Women at risk for PPD but who do not develop depression do not experiences problems with bonding in contrast to women who are at risk for PPD and do, in fact, experience depression.  


Prenatal and postnatal maternal anxiety and amygdala structure and function in young children.

Read More:  Weight Loss, Fitness, Health And TV Programs

Donnici C, Long X, Dewey D, Letourneau N, Landman B, Huo Y, Lebel C.  Sci Rep. 2021 Feb 17;11(1):4019. Free article.

Second trimester maternal anxiety symptoms were negatively associated with functional connectivity between the left amygdala and clusters in bilateral parietal regions; higher maternal anxiety was associated with increased negative connectivity. Postnatal maternal anxiety symptoms were positively associated with child amygdala volume, but this finding did not remain significant while controlling for total brain volume.


MGH Center for Women's Mental Health