Moms’ mental health and social conditions during pregnancy were linked to how long their babies stayed in the hospital and how they scored on early learning tests, a new study finds.  

Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania analyzed 189 families in which infants were born with critical congenital heart disease and needed heart surgery soon after birth. Using routine prenatal mental‑health screens and information on social conditions (age, education, insurance, race/ethnicity, and neighborhood social vulnerability), the team identified two groups of mothers: a high‑risk group with more depressive and trauma‑related symptoms and greater social adversity (46 mothers) and a low‑risk group (143 mothers). Babies in the high‑risk group were born slightly earlier and smaller, stayed in the hospital longer, and scored lower on standard tests of thinking, language, and motor skills at 13–29 months.  

By the numbers (adjusted analyses):

• Gestational age: about 0.5 weeks earlier (≈3 days).
• Birth weight: 0.21 kg (≈7 oz) lower.
• Hospital stay: ~25 days longer.
• Development at 1–2 years: cognitive (−4 points), language (−9 points), motor (−5 points) on Bayley‑III composites. Findings for earlier birth and lower language scores held even after excluding babies with additional fetal anomalies.  

Why it matters

Survival after infant heart surgery has improved, shifting focus to quality of life and neurodevelopment. The study suggests that addressing maternal mental health and social needs during pregnancy could be a modifiable way to improve outcomes for children with serious heart defects—alongside excellent medical care. The authors’ framework for how parental stress and social context affect child outcomes is shown in the Parental Stress and Resilience in CHD model (figure, p. 3), while a bar‑chart (p. 6) illustrates how the high‑ and low‑risk groups differ, and a results table (p. 7) quantifies the outcome gaps.  

Caveats

This was a single‑center, retrospective study, and it cannot prove cause and effect. Maternal medical details (like hypertension or gestational diabetes) weren’t available, and families facing greater hardship may be under‑represented. Still, the pattern was consistent: prenatal mental‑health symptoms and social disadvantage tracked with tougher starts for babies and lower early developmental scores.  

Bottom line

Screening and supporting expectant parents’ mental health and social needs—starting in pregnancy—may help babies with critical heart disease get a healthier start and stronger early development.  

Source: Lisanti, A. J., Min, J., Hampton, L., Cole, J., Budney, A., Burnham, A., Zimmerman, L., Quarshie, W., Shillingford, A. J., & Gaynor, J. W. (2025). Determining associations between prenatal maternal mental health and social determinants of health with outcomes in children with critical CHD. Cardiology in the young, 35(8), 1654–1662. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1047951125100772

Editor’s note: This article is for information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice.