Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T15:41:57.112Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Maternal mental health and internalizing and externalizing psychopathology in extremely low birth weight adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 November 2019

Meena Rangan*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada
Megan Banting
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
Lindsay Favotto
Affiliation:
Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
Louis A. Schmidt
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
Saroj Saigal
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
Ryan J. Van Lieshout
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
*
Address for correspondence: Meena Rangan, Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada. Email: [email protected]

Abstract

The mental health of adult extremely low birth weight (ELBW) (<1000 g) survivors is poorer than their normal birth weight (NBW) peers. An understanding of the modifiable factors that affect this risk could provide targets for intervention. We set out to determine the extent to which a maternal history of mental health problems influenced mental health in ELBW and NBW offspring in adulthood. A total of 85 ELBW and 88 NBW individuals born between 1977 and 1982 in central west Ontario, Canada self-reported on internalizing (depression, anxiety) and externalizing (attention-deficit hyperactivity and antisocial) problems using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) scales of the Young Adult Self-Report at ages 22–26 and 30–35. They also reported on their mother’s maternal mental health using the Family History Screen. An interaction was found between birth weight status and maternal history of an anxiety disorder such that ELBW survivors showed a greater increase in internalizing scores than NBW participants at 22–26 (β = 10.27, p = 0.002) and at 30–35 years of age (β = 12.65, p = 0.002). An interaction was also observed between birth weight and maternal history of mood disorder, with higher externalizing scores in ELBW survivors than NBW adults at 22–26 (β = 7.21, p < 0.0001). ELBW adults appear to be more susceptible to the adverse mental health effects of exposure to maternal mood and anxiety disorders than those born at NBW. These links further highlight the importance of detecting and treating mental health problems in the parents of preterm survivors as a means of attempting to reduce the burden of psychopathology in this population.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

These authors contributed equally to this work.

References

Langhoff-Roos, J, Kesmodel, U, Jacobsson, B, Rasmussen, S, Vogel, I. Spontaneous preterm delivery in primiparous women at low risk in Denmark: population based study. BMJ. 2006; 332, 937939.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, JM, Irgens, LM, Rasmussen, S, Daltveit, AK. Secular trends in socio‐economic status and the implications for preterm birth. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2006; 20, 182187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doyle, LW. Evaluation of neonatal intensive care for extremely low birth weight infants in Victoria over two decades: I. Effectiveness. Pediatrics. 2004; 113, 505509.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kusuda, S, Fujimura, M, Uchiyama, A, Totsu, S, Matsunami, K. Trends in morbidity and mortality among very-low-birth-weight infants from 2003 to 2008 in Japan. Pediatr Res. 2012; 72, 531.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meadow, W, Lee, G, Lin, K, Lantos, J. Changes in mortality for extremely low birth weight infants in the 1990s: implications for treatment decisions and resource use. Pediatrics. 2004; 113, 12231229.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saigal, S, Doyle, LW. An overview of mortality and sequelae of preterm birth from infancy to adulthood. Lancet. 2008; 371, 261269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hack, M, Taylor, HG, Drotar, D, et al. Chronic conditions, functional limitations, and special health care needs of school-aged children born with extremely low-birth-weight in the 1990s. JAMA. 2005; 294, 318325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathewson, KJ, Chow, HTC, Dobson, KG, et al. Mental health of extremely low birth weight survivors: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychol Bull. 2017; 143, 347383.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyle, MH, Miskovic, V, Van Lieshout, RJ, et al. Psychopathology in young adults born at extremely low birth weight. Psychol Med. 2011; 41, 17631774.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Lieshout, RJ, Boyle, MH, Saigal, S, Morrison, K, Schmidt, LA. Mental health of extremely low birth weight survivors in their 30s. Pediatrics. 2015; 135, 452459.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hack, M, Flannery, DJ, Schluchter, M, et al. Outcomes in young adulthood for very-low-birth-weight infants. N Engl J Med. 2002; 346, 149157.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waxman, JA, Van Lieshout, RJ, Boyle, MH, Saigal, S, Schmidt, LA. Linking extremely low birth weight and internalizing behaviors in adult survivors: influences of neuroendocrine dysregulation. Dev Psychobiol. 2015; 57, 486496.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miskovic, V, Schmidt, LA, Georgiades, K, Boyle, M, MacMillan, HL. Stability of resting frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry and cardiac vagal tone in adolescent females exposed to child maltreatment. Dev Psychobiol. 2009; 51, 474487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poole, KL, Schmidt, LA, Missiuna, C, et al. Childhood motor coordination and adult psychopathology in extremely low birth weight survivors. J Affect Disord. 2016; 190, 294299.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dobson, KG, Schmidt, LA, Saigal, S, Boyle, MH, Van Lieshout, RJ. Childhood cognition and lifetime risk of major depressive disorder in extremely low birth weight and normal birth weight adults. J Dev Orig Health Dis. 2016; 7, 574580.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dobson, KG, Ferro, MA, Boyle, MH, et al. Socioeconomic attainment of extremely low birth weight survivors: the role of early cognition. Pediatrics. 2017; 139, 20162545.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lund, JI, Day, KL, Schmidt, LA, Saigal, S, Van Lieshout, RJ. Adult social outcomes of extremely low birth weight survivors of childhood sexual abuse. J Dev Orig Health Dis. 2016; 7, 581587.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lund, JI, Day, KL, Schmidt, LA, Saigal, S, Van Lieshout, RJ. Adult mental health outcomes of child abuse survivors born at extremely low birth weight. Child Abuse Negl. 2016; 59, 3644.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Day, KL, Dobson, KG, Schmidt, LA, et al. Exposure to overprotective parenting and psychopathology in extremely low birth weight survivors. Child Care Health Dev. 2018; 44, 234239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Lieshout, RJ, Boyle, MH, Favotto, L, et al. Impact of extremely low‐birth‐weight status on risk and resilience for depression and anxiety in adulthood. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2018; 59(5), 596603.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fortier, P, Van Lieshout, RJ, Waxman, JA, et al. Are orchids left and dandelions right? Frontal brain activation asymmetry and its sensitivity to developmental context. Psychol Sci. 2014; 25, 15261533.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barker, ED, Jaffee, SR, Uher, R, Maughan, B. The contribution of prenatal and postnatal maternal anxiety and depression to child maladjustment. Depress Anxiety. 2011; 28, 696702.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodman, SH, Gotlib, IH. Risk for psychopathology in the children of depressed mothers: a developmental model for understanding mechanisms of transmission. Psychol Rev. 1999; 106, 458490.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Milne, BJ, Caspi, A, Harrington, H, et al. Predictive value of family history on severity of illness: the case for depression, anxiety, alcohol dependence, and drug dependence. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009; 66, 738747.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nomura, Y, Wickramaratne, PJ, Pilowsky, DJ, et al. Low birthweight and risk of affective disorders & selected medical illness in offspring at high and low risk for depression. Compr Psychiatry. 2007; 48, 470478.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walshe, M, Rifkin, L, Rooney, M, et al. Psychiatric disorder in young adults born very preterm: role of family history. Eur Psychiatry. 2008; 23, 527531.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Phares, V, Duhig, AM, Watkins, MM. Family context: fathers and other supports. In Children of Depressed Parents: Mechanisms of Risk and Implications for Treatment (eds. Goodman, SH, Gotlib, IH), 2002; pp. 203225. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamb, ME, Tamis-LeMonda, CS. The role of the father: an introduction. In The Role of the Father in Child Development (ed. Lamb, ME), 2004; pp. 131. John Wiley & Sons Inc., Hoboken, NJ.Google Scholar
Weissman, MM, Wickramaraine, P, Adams, P. Brief screening for family psychiatric history: the family history screen. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2000; 57, 675682.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Achenbach, TM. Manual for the Young Adult Self-report and Young Adult Behaviour Checklist, 1997. University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry, Burlington, VT.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.), 1994. American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., Arlington, VA. Google Scholar
Achenbach, TM, Bernstein, A, Dumenci, L. DSM oriented scales and statistically based syndromes for ages 18 to 59: linking taxonomic paradigms to facilitate multitaxonomic approaches. J Pers Assess. 2005; 84, 4963.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cadman, D, Boyle, M, Szatmari, P, Offord, DR. Chronic illness, disability, and mental and social well-being: findings of the Ontario Child Health Study. Pediatrics. 1987; 79(5), 805813.Google ScholarPubMed
Hofstra, MB, Van Der Ende, JAN, Verhulst, FC. Child and adolescent problems predict DSM-IV disorders in adulthood: a 14-year follow-up of a Dutch epidemiological sample. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2002; 41(2), 182189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Young, J, Savoy, C, Schmidt, LA, et al. Adult mental health outcomes of preterm survivors experiencing suicidal ideation in adolescence. Arch Suicide Res. 2019; 23, 163174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cheong, JLY, Wark, JD, Cheung, MM, et al. Impact of extreme prematurity or extremely low birth weight on young adult health and well-being: the Victorian Infant Collaborative Study (VICS) 1991–1992 Longitudinal Cohort study protocol. BMJ Open. 2019; 9, e030345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyle, MH, Offord, DR, Racine, Y, et al. Evaluation of the revised Ontario child health study scales. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1993; 34(2), 189213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koenen, KC, Moffitt, TE, Roberts, AL, et al. Childhood IQ and adult mental disorders: a test of the cognitive reserve hypothesis. Am J Psychiatry. 2009; 166(1), 5057.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Joseph, RM, O’Shea, TM, Allred, EN, et al. Neurocognitive and academic outcomes at age 10 years of extremely preterm newborns. Pediatrics. 2016; 137(4), e20154343.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooke, RWI. Are there critical periods for brain growth in children born preterm? Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2006; 91: F17F20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D. Manual for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Revised, 1974. Psychological Corporation, San Antonio, TX.Google Scholar
Schuerger, JM, Witt, AC. The temporal stability of individually tested intelligence. J Clin Psychol. 1989; 45(2), 294302.3.0.CO;2-N>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gluckman, PD, Hanson, MA. Developmental origins of disease paradigm: a mechanistic and evolutionary perspective. Pediatr Res. 2004; 56, 311317.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lester, BM, Conradt, E, Marsit, CJ. Epigenetic basis for the development of depression in children. Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2013; 56, 556565.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zelkowitz, P, Na, S, Wang, T, Bardin, C, Papageorgiou, A. Early maternal anxiety predicts cognitive and behavioural outcomes of VLBW children at 24 months corrected age. Acta Paediatr. 2011; 100, 700704.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zelkowitz, P, Papageorgiou, A. Easing maternal anxiety: an update. Womens Health. 2012; 8, 205213.Google ScholarPubMed
Letourneau, NL, Tramonte, L, Willms, JD. Maternal depression, family functioning and children’s longitudinal development. J Pediatr Nurs. 2013; 28, 223234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beck, CT. The effect of postpartum depression on maternal-infant interaction: a meta-analysis. Nurs Res. 1995; 44, 298304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murray, L, Hipwell, A, Hooper, R. The cognitive developmental of 5-year-old children of postnatally depressed mothers. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1996; 37, 927935.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanley, C, Murray, L, Stein, A. The effect of postnatal depression on mother-infant interaction, infant response to Still-face perturbation, and performance on an instrumental learning task. Dev Psychopathol. 2004; 16, 118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leinonen, JA, Solantaus, TS, Punamaeki, RL. Parental mental health and children’s adjustment: the quality of marital interaction and parenting as mediating factors. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2003; 44, 227241.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Catalano, RF, Hawkins, JD. The social development model: a theory of antisocial behavior. In Cambridge Criminology Series. Delinquency and Crime: Current Theories (ed. Hawkins, JD), 1996; pp. 149197. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY.Google Scholar
Doyle, AB, Markiewicz, D. Parenting, marital conflict and adjustment from early- to mid-adolescence: mediated by adolescent attachment style? J Youth Adolesc. 2005; 34, 997–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, IT, Bates, JE, Dodge, KA, Lansford, JE, Pettit, GS. Describing and predicting developmental profiles of externalizing problems from childhood to adulthood. Dev Psychopathol. 2015; 27, 791818.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sampson, RJ, Laub, JH. Life-course desisters? Trajectories of crime among delinquent boys followed to age 70. Criminology. 2003; 41, 301340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendler, KS, Silberg, JL, Neale, MC, et al. The family history method: whose psychiatric history is measured? Am J Psychiatry. 1991; 148, 15011504.Google ScholarPubMed
Anderson, C, Cacola, P. Implications of preterm birth for maternal mental health and infant development. MCN Am J Matern Child Nurs. 2017; 42, 108114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilkinson, A, Anderson, S, Wheeler, SB. Screening for and treating postpartum depression and psychosis: a cost-effectiveness analysis. Matern Child Health J. 2017; 21, 903914.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Rangan et al. supplementary material

Rangan et al. supplementary material

Download Rangan et al. supplementary material(File)
File 17.6 KB