05/04/2022
Infants Born To People Stressed Out During Pregnancy May Be More Likely To Experience Social, Emotional, And Learning Problems As They Grow Up, Study Suggests
HealthDay (5/3, Mann) reports, “Babies born to women who are stressed out during pregnancy may be more likely to experience social, emotional and learning problems as they grow up,” investigators concluded in a study that “followed nearly 100 pregnant women and their babies for 18 months.” The study, which involved magnetic resonance imaging, revealed that “infants born to women who reported high stress levels showed brain changes in key areas of the developing brain, including the folds in the outer part of the brain (sulcal depth) and the left hippocampus, which is tasked with learning and memory,” and these children “were more likely to have trouble regulating their emotions and showed thinking impairments.” The findings were published online in JAMA Network Open.