NEJM comment on maternal depression

[MeSci]

A piece from the NEJM:

http://www.jwatch.org/na37864/2015/...d=jwatch&query=pfw-featured&variant=full-text

May 22, 2015
Depressed Pregnant Mothers — and the Antidepressants They Take — Leave Enduring Marks on Offspring

Joel Yager, MD reviewing Nemoda Z et al. Transl Psychiatr 2015 Apr 7. Brandlistuen RE et al. Int J Epidemiol 2015 Apr 14.

In one study, untreated maternal depression altered children's DNA methylation patterns of genes affecting immune function and stress reactivity; in another study, prenatal exposure to antidepressants increased anxiety in 3-year-olds.

Both maternal depression and prenatal antidepressant treatment can affect developing children, but specific mechanisms linking these antecedents to outcomes are not fully understood. Two recent studies add to our knowledge.

Nemoda and colleagues focused on epigenetic phenomena. In 15 currently depressed and 14 formerly depressed pregnant women and 15 matched nonpsychiatric controls, they examined genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in T lymphocytes from mothers' antepartum blood and neonatal cord blood. All participants were nonmedicated. Whereas methylation patterns in maternal blood were similar across groups, they differed by group in cord blood; neonatal cord blood from mothers with current or past depression showed enriched methylation patterns involving genes that regulate immune function and stress reactivity. Postmortem hippocampal tissue from men with depressed versus nondepressed mothers was also examined. DNA methylation patterns in men with depressed mothers were similar to the cord blood findings, including enrichment of genes regulating immune functions; 33 genes overlapped in the two samples.

To examine effects of prenatal antidepressant exposure on behavioral outcomes, Brandlistuen and colleagues analyzed data on a subset of siblings from a population-based Norwegian study who were discordant for prenatal antidepressant exposure. Analyses adjusted for maternal lifetime depression and prenatal depression, anxiety, smoking, alcohol use, and other medication use. In 121 siblings at age 36 months, prenatal exposure was associated with significantly more anxiety, but not greater emotional reactivity, somatic complaints, sleep problems, attention problems, or aggression.

I think this is one of the papers referred to.

The other one is called 'Maternal depression is associated with DNA methylation changes in cord blood T lymphocytes and adult hippocampi' but I haven't been able to find it yet.