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Abstract

Objective:

Prenatal maternal anxiety has detrimental effects on the offspring's neurocognitive development, including impaired attentional function. Antidepressants are commonly used during pregnancy, yet their impact on offspring attention and their interaction with maternal anxiety has not been assessed. The authors used P50 auditory sensory gating, a putative marker of early attentional processes measurable in young infants, to assess the impact of maternal anxiety and antidepressant use.

Method:

A total of 242 mother-infant dyads were classified relative to maternal history of anxiety and maternal prenatal antidepressant use. Infant P50 auditory sensory gating was recorded during active sleep at a mean age of 76 days (SD=38).

Results:

In the absence of prenatal antidepressant exposure, infants whose mothers had a history of anxiety diagnoses had diminished P50 sensory gating. Prenatal antidepressant exposure mitigated the effect of anxiety. The effect of maternal anxiety was limited to amplitude of response to the second stimulus, while antidepressant exposure had an impact on the amplitude of response to both the first and second stimulus.

Conclusions:

Maternal anxiety disorders are associated with less inhibition during infant sensory gating, a performance deficit mitigated by prenatal antidepressant exposure. This effect may be important in considering the risks and benefits of antidepressant use during pregnancy. Cholinergic mechanisms are hypothesized for both anxiety and antidepressant effects, although the cholinergic receptors involved are likely different for anxiety and antidepressant effects.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to American Journal of Psychiatry
Go to American Journal of Psychiatry
American Journal of Psychiatry
Pages: 616 - 624
PubMed: 22581104

History

Received: 9 September 2011
Accepted: 14 February 2012
Published online: 1 June 2012
Published in print: June 2012
Revision received: 31 December 2012

Authors

Details

Sharon K. Hunter, Ph.D.
From the Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Biostatistics and Informatics, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora; and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver.
Jordan H. Mendoza, M.D.
From the Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Biostatistics and Informatics, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora; and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver.
Kimberly D'Anna, Ph.D.
From the Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Biostatistics and Informatics, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora; and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver.
Gary O. Zerbe, Ph.D.
From the Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Biostatistics and Informatics, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora; and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver.
Lizbeth McCarthy, M.D.
From the Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Biostatistics and Informatics, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora; and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver.
Camille Hoffman, M.D.
From the Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Biostatistics and Informatics, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora; and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver.
Robert Freedman, M.D.
From the Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Biostatistics and Informatics, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora; and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver.
Randal G. Ross, M.D.
From the Departments of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Biostatistics and Informatics, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora; and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver.

Notes

Address correspondence to Dr. Ross ([email protected]).

Funding Information

Dr. Zerbe has equity interest in Abbott Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals, Merck, and Pfizer and has a contract with Merck as a statistician in a study of a booster dose of vaccine for varicella zoster. Dr. Ross has equity interest in Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals. All other authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.Supported in part by NIH grants R25MH080859, P50MH086383, T32MH015442, R01MH056539, and K12HD001271.

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