130 - Scoping Review: Parental Mental Health in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Relation to Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Children Born Preterm

Publication Number: 1120.130

Fargol Yeganeh Fathi, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York City, NY, United States; Samantha Khemlani, Weill Cornell Medicine, Houston, TX, United States; Sarah T. Jewell, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, United States; Soudabeh Givrad, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, United States; Katie Travis, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York City, NY, United States

Background: Preterm birth ( < 37 weeks’ gestation) affects ~10% of U.S. births and remains a leading cause of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. While parental mental health is a known determinant of child development in term-born populations, it is unclear whether similar associations exist in preterm children, whether maternal and paternal influences differ, or whether specific mental health conditions relate to particular developmental domains.

Objective: To perform a scoping review of studies examining associations between parental depression, anxiety, stress, or PTSD measured during NICU hospitalization and developmental outcomes in preterm children through age five.

Design/Methods: A scoping review was conducted to identify the relevant empirical peer-reviewed papers. Search terms were created by a medical librarian and revised by the research team. The following databases were searched: PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, CINAHL and Cochrane CENTRAL.

Results: In total, 4,273 search results were exported to Covidence, with 3,171 studies screened by title and abstract after de-duplication. Ninety-four articles underwent full-text review, and 20 met inclusion criteria (Figure 1). Sixty-five percent of studies examined parental mental health in the NICU as the primary objective, and 35% included it as a secondary analysis. Depression was the most frequently studied condition (85%), followed by anxiety (40%), stress (25%), and PTSD (15%). Higher maternal stress and PTSD were consistently associated with poorer language, behavioral, and socio-emotional outcomes, whereas findings for depression and anxiety were mixed, with both significant and null results reported. Several studies linked depression, anxiety, or stress to increased internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Only three studies included fathers, with one finding a significant association between paternal postnatal anxiety and children’s emotional problems. Common limitations included limited control for neonatal medical risk, restricted sample diversity, inadequate mental health measures, and follow-up samples skewed toward highly educated mothers.

Conclusion(s): More research is needed to clarify how specific parental mental health conditions influence developmental domains, identify modifiable family factors, and inform interventions to improve outcomes for preterm children and their parents.

PRISMA Figure
PAS Abstract Figure.pdfThe PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) flow diagram illustrates the study selection process for the scoping review. It outlines the number of records identified, screened, excluded, and included at each stage of the review.