Prenatal stress and offspring depression in adulthood: The mediating role of childhood trauma

Liu, Yiwen, Heron, Jon, Hickman, Matthew, Zammit, Stanley ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2647-9211 and Wolke, Dieter 2022. Prenatal stress and offspring depression in adulthood: The mediating role of childhood trauma. Journal of Affective Disorders 297 , pp. 45-52. 10.1016/j.jad.2021.10.019

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Abstract

Background There is repeated evidence for a prenatal programming effect for the development of offspring depression. However, examination of environmental influences along this pathway is sparse. This study aimed to investigate the direct and indirect effects of pre- and postnatal stress on offspring depression in adulthood, via increased exposure to childhood trauma. Methods A large longitudinal population-based cohort (N = 3506) was followed up from birth and assessed at 24 years. Diagnosis of depression was derived using the International Classification of Diseases–10th revision (ICD-10). Two separate sources of pre- and postnatal stress were examined – maternal depression and family adversity, and childhood trauma was assessed prospectively across childhood until 17 years. Results Both pre- and postnatal maternal depression and family adversity were associated with offspring depression at 24 years in simple logistic regression models. When all pathways were modelled simultaneously, only childhood trauma was directly associated with offspring depression, and mediated all pathways from both sources of pre- and postnatal stress to offspring depression (7–16% of the total effect mediated). Sensitivity analysis on specific trauma found stronger evidence for a mediated pathway via physical, emotional abuse and peer bullying, compared to emotional neglect, sexual abuse and domestic violence. Conclusions These findings indicate that reducing childhood trauma could be a target to decrease depression in the general population, and the focus should also be on families at high risk of experiencing pre- or postnatal stress, to provide them with better support.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG)
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0165-0327
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	21 October 2021
Date of Acceptance:	15 October 2021
Last Modified:	08 Nov 2023 07:44
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/144992

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