Effects of prenatal exposure to (es)citalopram and maternal depression during pregnancy on DNA methylation and child neurodevelopment.
Emilie Willoch OlstadHedvig Marie Egeland NordengGeir Kjetil F SandveRobert LyleKristina GervinPublished in: Translational psychiatry (2023)
Studies assessing associations between prenatal exposure to antidepressants, maternal depression, and offspring DNA methylation (DNAm) have been inconsistent. Here, we investigated whether prenatal exposure to citalopram or escitalopram ((es)citalopram) and maternal depression is associated with differences in DNAm. Then, we examined if there is an interaction effect of (es)citalopram exposure and DNAm on offspring neurodevelopmental outcomes. Finally, we investigated whether DNAm at birth correlates with neurodevelopmental trajectories in childhood. We analyzed DNAm in cord blood from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) biobank. MoBa contains questionnaire data on maternal (es)citalopram use and depression during pregnancy and information about child neurodevelopmental outcomes assessed by internationally recognized psychometric tests. In addition, we retrieved ADHD diagnoses from the Norwegian Patient Registry and information on pregnancies from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. In total, 958 newborn cord blood samples were divided into three groups: (1) prenatal (es)citalopram exposed (n = 306), (2) prenatal maternal depression exposed (n = 308), and (3) propensity score-selected controls (n = 344). Among children exposed to (es)citalopram, there were more ADHD diagnoses and symptoms and delayed communication and psychomotor development. We did not identify differential DNAm associated with (es)citalopram or depression, nor any interaction effects on neurodevelopmental outcomes throughout childhood. Trajectory modeling identified subgroups of children following similar developmental patterns. Some of these subgroups were enriched for children exposed to maternal depression, and some subgroups were associated with differences in DNAm at birth. Interestingly, several of the differentially methylated genes are involved in neuronal processes and development. These results suggest DNAm as a potential predictive molecular marker of later abnormal neurodevelopmental outcomes, but we cannot conclude whether DNAm links prenatal (es)citalopram exposure or maternal depression with child neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Keyphrases
- depressive symptoms
- pregnancy outcomes
- pregnant women
- cord blood
- sleep quality
- birth weight
- dna methylation
- nk cells
- gestational age
- mental health
- gene expression
- young adults
- major depressive disorder
- healthcare
- genome wide
- transcription factor
- climate change
- working memory
- case report
- health information
- deep learning
- cross sectional
- blood brain barrier
- bipolar disorder
- weight gain
- preterm birth
- risk assessment
- childhood cancer
- artificial intelligence
- genome wide analysis