Perinatal & Pediatric
Childhood maternal depression and offspring’s brain cortical and subcortical volumetric change Yuna Koyama* Yuna Koyama Henning Tiemeier
Maternal depression is a known risk factor for children’s abnormal brain development. However, current views on maternal depression and child brain morphology were built upon region-of-interest analyses, cross-sectional studies, and clinical samples. In recent longitudinal prospective studies, brain imaging was completed predominantly one or two times only and precluded early childhood, when the brain structure undergoes tremendous change. We overcame these previous drawbacks using repeated structural brain imaging from age 4.5 to 10.5 years old (maximum of four time points measurements). Data of 217 children from the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes cohort was analyzed. Maternal depression was measured with a questionnaire when children were 4.5 years old. After carefully considering outliers and conducting outcome imputation, linear mixed models were applied to repeated brain assessments to explore within-sample variations. First- and second-order age variables were included to consider the non-linear shape of the volumetric development. In the cross-sectional analysis, maternal depression was associated with left postcentral cortical volume at 6 years old (β = -0.216, 95%CI = -0.322 to -0.109, padj = 0.007). In the longitudinal analysis, we found that maternal depression was associated with curvilinear changes (/year2) in volumes of left pars triangularis (β = 0.017, 95%CI = 0.010 to 0.024, padj < 0.001), left supramarginal (β = -0.019, 95%CI = -0.027 to -0.011, padj < 0.001), left precentral (β = -0.020, 95%CI = -0.030 to -0.010, padj = 0.002), and left pars opercularis cortices (β = 0.019, 95%CI = 0.009 to 0.029, padj = 0.005). Graphically, regionally distinct patterns of the associations with developmental trajectories were observed. The frontal region (pars triangularis, pars opercularis, and precentral cortices) showed a steeper reduction in volumes or smaller volumes among children with depressed mothers compared to those with non-depressed mothers. In contrast, the parietal region (supramarginal cortex) showed an opposite pattern. In conclusion, exposure to maternal depression in early childhood was associated with cortical volumetric changes in several regions from frontal to parietal cortices throughout childhood.
