Maternal mental health and infant neurodevelopment at 6 months in a low-income South African cohort

Maternal mental health disorders and the adverse consequences for infant neurodevelopment have received substantial research attention in high-income countries over the past five decades. In Africa, where relatively little work has been done on this topic, researchers have largely focused on infant physical health outcomes. This longitudinal study investigated the neurodevelopment of infants at 6 months post-term with exposure to mothers with a clinical diagnosis of persistent mental health disorders residing in low-income communities in Cape Town, South Africa. Adjusted models revealed no significant differences on the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID-III) domains (cognitive, motor, language, socio-emotional, and adaptive behavior) between infants exposed to maternal mental health disorders (n = 62) and the comparison group (n = 35) at 3 and 6 months. Subgroup analyses found no significant differences on the BSID-III domains between infants with exposure to mood disorders (n = 31), as well as infants with exposure to comorbid (i.e., a combination of two or three) mental health disorders (n = 14) and the comparison group. However, infants with exposure to psychotic disorders (n = 14) scored significantly lower on the cognitive and the motor domains and the fine motor subscale. These novel data provide an important contribution to the scientific literature especially in the field of maternal psychotic disorders in Africa.