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Open Access 01-01-2018 | Original Contribution

Maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy are associated with amygdala hyperresponsivity in children

Authors: Noortje J. F. van der Knaap, Floris Klumpers, Hanan El Marroun, Sabine Mous, Dirk Schubert, Vincent Jaddoe, Albert Hofman, Judith R. Homberg, Henning Tiemeier, Tonya White, Guillén Fernández

Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry | Issue 1/2018

Abstract

Depression during pregnancy is highly prevalent and has a multitude of potential risks of the offspring. Among confirmed consequences is a higher risk of psychopathology. However, it is unknown how maternal depression may impact the child’s brain to mediate this vulnerability. Here we studied amygdala functioning, using task-based functional MRI, in children aged 6–9 years as a function of prenatal maternal depressive symptoms selected from a prospective population-based sample (The Generation R Study). We show that children exposed to clinically relevant maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy (N = 19) have increased amygdala responses to negative emotional faces compared to control children (N = 20) [F(1,36) 7.02, p = 0.022]. Strikingly, postnatal maternal depressive symptoms, obtained at 3 years after birth, did not explain this relation. Our findings are in line with a model in which prenatal depressive symptoms of the mother are associated with amygdala hyperresponsivity in her offspring, which may represent a risk factor for later-life psychopathology.

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Title: Maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy are associated with amygdala hyperresponsivity in children
Authors: Noortje J. F. van der Knaap
Floris Klumpers
Hanan El Marroun
Sabine Mous
Dirk Schubert
Vincent Jaddoe
Albert Hofman
Judith R. Homberg
Henning Tiemeier
Tonya White
Guillén Fernández
Publication date: 01-01-2018
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry / Issue 1/2018
Print ISSN: 1018-8827
Electronic ISSN: 1435-165X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-017-1015-x

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Maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy are associated with amygdala hyperresponsivity in children

Abstract

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Abstract

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