†These authors contributed equally.
Background: Antepartum depression, with an incidence of 20.7%, is a
pressing global public health concern due to its detrimental effects on both the
physical and mental health of pregnant women, as well as the potential risk it
poses for depression in their offspring. Nevertheless, there is a lack of
consensus among existing studies regarding this issue. Here, we systematically
evaluated the relationship between maternal perinatal depression and offspring
depression by meta-analysis. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive
search for relevant studies in Pubmed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI,
Wanfang, VIP, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Service System databases. The
prospective cohort studies, which were published in English or Chinese, reported
the occurrence of maternal prenatal and/or postnatal depression within one year
postpartum and assessed the subsequent development of depression in their
offspring, were included. Study quality was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa
Scale. Review Manager 5.4 software was used for meta-analysis. Subgroup analysis
was performed. Publication bias was evaluated with a funnel plot.
Results: Totally, 12 studies were included. The meta-analysis found that
maternal perinatal depression increased the risk of offspring depression by 1.64
(95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.37, 1.96, p