System Maintenance Notice

Please note that maintenance work is scheduled between 4 AM and 5 AM - CET. During this time, you may experience reduced performance. Thanks for your patience.

Publications

Journal Article Randomized Controlled Trial Observational Study Epublish 1 citation

PubMed: 42888210 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-78276-4

Infant hippocampal and amygdala volume in an observational follow-up from a randomized clinical trial for maternal prenatal depression.

Nat Commun 17(1)

Authors: Catherine H Demers, Benjamin L Hankin, LillyBelle K Deer, Robert J Gallop, Mercedes Hoeflich Haase, M Camille Hoffman, Martin A Styner, Nancy K Grote, Elysia Poggi Davis

Affiliations

  • University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Department of Psychiatry, Aurora, CO, USA. University of Denver, Department of Psychology, Denver, CO, USA.
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Psychology, Champaign, IL, USA.
  • University of Utah, Department of Psychology, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
  • West Chester University, Department of Mathematics, West Chester, PA, USA.
  • University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Department of Psychiatry, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
  • University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Department of Psychiatry, Aurora, CO, USA.
  • University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Maternal and Fetal Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA.
  • University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Department of Computer Science, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
  • Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel, Allschwil, Switzerland.
  • University of Washington, Department of Social Work, Seattle, WA, USA.
  • University of Denver, Department of Psychology, Denver, CO, USA.
  • University of California, Irvine, Department of Pediatrics, Irvine, CA, USA.

Abstract

Prenatal maternal depression may have intergenerational effects on offspring brain development, with potential socioemotional consequences. This observational follow-up study examines brain development and subsequent negative emotionality among 109 infants born to mothers participating in a randomized clinical trial (NCT03011801). In the prior trial, brief interpersonal psychotherapy significantly reduced prenatal depression symptoms and disorder as the published primary and secondary endpoints. Exploratory infant outcomes include hippocampal and amygdala volumes at 6 weeks and negative emotionality at 6 months. Here we show that infants of mothers randomized to interpersonal psychotherapy during pregnancy have lower right hippocampal volume than infants of mothers in the enhanced usual care group (p = .002, d = 0.62). No statistically significant group differences are observed in left hippocampal or amygdala volume. Smaller hippocampal volume predicts subsequent lower negative emotionality (r = 0.19, p = 0.045). In this study, a maternal prenatal depression intervention is associated with differences in infant brain development with implications for their subsequent emotional health.

MeSH

Depression, Mothers, Brain, Psychotherapy, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, Amygdala, Infant