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Effects of maternal anxiety and depression during pregnancy in Chinese women on children’s heart rate and blood pressure response to stress

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 30, pages 171–176 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Psychological disturbances, including anxiety and depression, are common during human pregnancy. Our objective was to determine whether these maternal disturbances influence cardiovascular responses of the offspring. The psychological status of 231 pregnant women was determined. Offspring (216) of these women were subsequently exposed to a video challenge stress when aged 7–9 years. Heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) of the children were determined at rest, in response to video stress and during subsequent recovery. Children’s resting and stress-induced increases in HR (bpm), systolic (SBP, mm Hg) and diastolic (DBP, mm Hg) BP were all greater in children whose mothers reported anxiety during pregnancy. Values (mean±s.d.) for resting HR, SBP and DBP were 75.15±5.87, 95.37±2.72 and 66.39±4.74 for children whose mothers reported no anxiety and an average of 81.62±6.71, 97.26±2.90 and 68.86±2.82 for children whose mothers reported anxiety at any level. Respective values for stress-induced increments in HR, SBP and DBP were 14.83.±2.14, 16.41±1.97 and 12.72±2.69 for children whose mothers reported no anxiety and 17.95±3.46, 18.74±2.46 and 14.86±2.02 for children whose mothers reported any level of anxiety. Effects of maternal depression were less consistent. The effects of maternal anxiety remained in multivariate analyses, which also included children’s birth weight. The results indicate a long-term influence of maternal psychological status during pregnancy on the cardiovascular responses to stress among offspring. These effects may contribute to prenatal influences on subsequent health of the offspring.

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Acknowledgements

We greatly thank all the participants and their families for their participation in this study. The work was supported, in part, by the 2010 Primary Scientific Research Foundation of Xi’an Jiaotong University and National Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC81170294).

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Author notes

  1. F Fan and Y Zou: The two authors contributed equally to this work.

  2. A M Dart: Anthony M Dart is a Senior Principal Research Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical College, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China

    F Fan, H Tian, Y Zhang, J Zhang & Y Meng

  2. Institute & Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes, The Alfred, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    F Fan & A M Dart

  3. Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical College, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China

    Y Zou, Y Yue & K Liu

  4. Department of Psychology and Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical College, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China

    X Ma

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Correspondence to A M Dart.

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Fan, F., Zou, Y., Tian, H. et al. Effects of maternal anxiety and depression during pregnancy in Chinese women on children’s heart rate and blood pressure response to stress. J Hum Hypertens 30, 171–176 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2015.64

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