1 in 5 Australian mothers of children aged 1 year or less are diagnosed with depression, with more than half diagnosed in the first year postpartum.
Prenatal maternal psychological distress has been associated with numerous developmental problems in children, including difficult temperament, poorer cognitive and language skills and an increase in behavioural and emotional problems during childhood.
Long-term exposure to toxic stress in pregnancy - stress characterised by strong, frequent and/or prolonged activation of stress response systems producing disruptions of circuitry and other biological systems leading to health-damaging behaviours - can result in enduring foetal structural changes and/or physiologic dysregulations that lead to lifelong problems in physical and mental health, as well as learning and behaviour.
Though phenotypically diverse, many NCDs increasingly burdening Australia's youth - including childhood mental ill health and neurodevelopmental disorders - share features of inflammation, microbiomic/metabolomic dysbiosis and immune dysregulation.
Currently, the greatest spend in addressing mental health is on treatment rather than supporting prevention and early interventions early in life. Early life is a critical period of development and presents a window of opportunity to influence lifelong trajectories of positive growth and wellbeing.
This sub-project hypothesises that elevated maternal psychological distress in the perinatal period increases the likelihood of dysregulation in early childhood i.e. in the regulation of metabolic, physiological or psychological processes. High and constant levels of psychological distress will associate with elevated markers of inflammation and disruptions to tryptophan metabolic pathways.
Ultimately, the goal of this research is to understand optimal timepoints to support the mother's mental health to also benefit her child.
The sub-project aims to identify indicators of maternal psychological distress antenatally and postnatally, and whether these factors are associated with indicators of poor behavioural and/or mental health in early childhood using the ORIGINS cohort.
Objectives are:
- To investigate longitudinal trajectories of maternal psychological distress (depression, anxiety and stress) from pregnancy to 2 years post birth.
- To investigate if there is an association between trajectories of elevated maternal psychological distress and increases in specific child indicators at 3 years of age: anxiety, mood and affect, and emotional lability.
- To investigate if these is an association between trajectories of typical maternal psychological distress and typical child indicators at 3 years of age: anxiety, mood and affect, and emotional lability.
- To determine if inflammatory bio markers (including cytokines and GlycA) are associated with longitudinal elevated psychological distress in perinatal women.
- To determine if inflammatory bio markers (including cytokines and GlycA) are associated with increased poor behavioural/mental health (anxiety, mood and affect, and emotional lability) in children at 3 years of age.
The Child and Maternal Health sub-project is made possible through funding by the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation.
Investigators
- Dr Jackie Davis at The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Dr Nina D'Vaz at The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Professor Desiree Silva at The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Dr Lisa Gibson at The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Natasha Bear at Natasha Bear Statistics
- Dr Zenobia Talati at The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Sonia Gregory at Natasha Bear Statistics
- Dr David Martino at The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Ziyi Wang, PhD Student at The University of Western Australia
- Professor Wai Chen at Curtin University