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  • Population Study Article
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Prenatal depression and child developmental vulnerability

Pediatric Research volume 98, pages 568–576 (2025)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Prenatal depression is a potentially important fetal exposure as it may alter fetal development and have lasting effects.

Methods

We examined all live births from 2001 to 2012 in British Columbia with follow-up data on the Early Development Instrument (EDI) in Kindergarten. The odds of developmental vulnerability on EDI domains among those with and without depression during pregnancy were estimated. A matched sibling analysis was run using conditional logistic regression within the same birth parent.

Results

We included 130,631 births among 108,340 pregnant people, with 6089 children (4.7%) exposed to prenatal depression. Children exposed to depression during pregnancy were significantly more likely to be considered vulnerable on physical health and well-being (OR, 1.19 [95% CI, 1.10–1.29]), social competence (OR, 1.25 [95% CI, 1.15–1.36]), emotional maturity (OR, 1.18 [95% CI, 1.08–1.28]), language and cognitive development (OR, 1.14 [95% CI, 1.04–1.26]), and multiple domains (OR, 1.18 [95% CI, 1.09–1.27]). No significant associations were found in our matched sibling pair analysis, but effect sizes remained above 1 for physical health and social competences.

Conclusion

More research is needed to determine whether fetal exposure to prenatal depression may predispose to childhood vulnerability on physical health and well-being, language and cognition, and socio-emotional domains.

Impact

  • Prenatal depression is common (9-22% of pregnancies) and research has suggested a negative impact on the developing fetal brain but data on long term child development following prenatal depression is sparse.

  • Using a unique population-based dataset with developmental data from children, we found increased risk for developmental vulnerability in physical health and well-being and socio-emotional development.

  • Sibling matched analyses suggested the presence of some residual confounding and associations were no longer statistically significant but effects sizes did not substantially attenuate for physical health and social competence.

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Funding

This study was supported by a project grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC, 590-828 W 10th Ave, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1M9, Canada

    Naomi N. Phagau, Paramdeep Kaur, Amanda Nitschke & Gillian E. Hanley

  2. School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 2206 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada

    Michael R. Law, Martin Guhn & Tim F. Oberlander

  3. Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Michael R. Law

  4. Human Early Learning Partnership, University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Martin Guhn

  5. Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia (UBC), 938 W 28th Ave, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4H4, Canada

    Tim F. Oberlander

Authors
  1. Naomi N. Phagau
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  2. Paramdeep Kaur
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  4. Michael R. Law
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  6. Tim F. Oberlander
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  7. Gillian E. Hanley
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Contributions

Ms Phagau and Dr Hanley designed and conceptualized the study, performed statistical analyses, interpreted the data and drafted the initial manuscript; Dr Kaur and Ms Nitschke assisted with data preparation and analysis and revised and critically reviewed the manuscript; Drs Oberlander, Law, and Guhn participated in the conceptualization of the study, interpreting the data, and revising and critically reviewing the manuscript; and all authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gillian E. Hanley.

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Phagau, N.N., Kaur, P., Nitschke, A. et al. Prenatal depression and child developmental vulnerability. Pediatr Res 98, 568–576 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-025-03846-z

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