Maternal major depression during early pregnancy is associated with impaired child executive functioning at 4.5 years of age.

Background: Maternal depression is a serious condition that affects up to 1 in 7 pregnancies. Despite evidence linking maternal depression to pregnancy complications and adverse fetal outcomes, there remain large gaps in its identification and treatment. More work is needed to define the specific timing and severity of depression that most urgently requires intervention, where feasible, to protect maternal health and the developing fetus.

Cognitive and Emotional Well-Being of Preschool Children Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Importance: The association between COVID-19 social disruption and young children's development is largely unknown.

Objective: To examine associations of pandemic exposure with neurocognitive and socioemotional development at 24 and 54 months of age.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study evaluated associations between pandemic exposure vs nonexposure and developmental outcomes with covariate adjustment using data from the Ontario Birth Study collected between February 2018 and June 2022.