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Antenatal depression increased risk for depression in adult offspring

Children born to mothers with depression during pregnancy are more likely to develop depression at age 18 years, according to data published in JAMA Psychiatry. Researchers said, however, that treating maternal depression antenatally could stave off depression among offspring in adulthood.

Postnatal depression was also associated with depression among offspring; the association was highest among those whose mothers had lower education.

Researchers from England and New York conducted a prospective study using data from more than 4,500 parents and adolescent offspring of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children — a community-based birth cohort in the United Kingdom.

For each standard deviation increase in antenatal maternal depression score, offspring were 1.28 times more likely to have depression at age 18 years (95% CI, 1.08-1.51).

Similarly, children of mothers with low education were 1.26 times more likely to develop depression for each standard deviation increase in postnatal depression score (95% CI, 1.06-1.5), although the association was small for mothers with more education (OR=1.09; 95% CI, 0.88-1.36).

Researchers also examined the effects of paternal depression and found a similar association postnatally to that of maternal depression, but there was no association with antenatal paternal depression.

"The findings have important implications for the nature and timing of interventions aimed at preventing depression in the offspring of depressed mothers," the researchers wrote. “In particular, the findings suggest that treating depression in pregnancy, irrespective of background, may be most effective."

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.