A new study suggests that supporting parents’ mental health and social needs during pregnancy could help babies born with serious heart conditions get a healthier start.
What the study did
Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania followed 189 families whose infants had critical congenital heart disease (CHD) and required heart surgery soon after birth. Using routine prenatal screening for depression and trauma‑related symptoms plus information on social factors (age, education, insurance, race/ethnicity, and neighborhood disadvantage), they grouped mothers into higher‑risk (n=46) and lower‑risk (n=143) profiles. (Data were collected 2012–2019; children’s development was checked at 13–29 months.)
Key findings
Compared with the lower‑risk group, infants of higher‑risk mothers:
- Were born ~0.45 weeks earlier (≈3 days) and weighed 0.21 kg (≈7 oz) less.
- Stayed in the hospital ~25 days longer after birth.
- Scored lower on standard early development tests (Bayley‑III): −4.3 (cognitive), −8.6 (language), −5.4 (motor).In a sensitivity analysis that excluded babies with additional non‑cardiac conditions, two differences still held: earlier birth (−0.62 weeks) and lower language scores (−9.9 points).
Why it matters
Survival after infant heart surgery keeps improving, so attention is shifting to quality of life and neurodevelopment. This study ties prenatal mental health symptoms and social adversity to earlier delivery, longer hospitalizations, and lower early learning scores—pointing to actionable opportunities: screening and treating parental mental‑health needs, connecting families to social supports, and addressing barriers tied to insurance, education, and neighborhood disadvantage.
Caveats
This was a single‑center, observational study; it can’t prove cause and effect and may not capture all maternal health factors. Still, the pattern was consistent across analyses.
Bottom line
For families facing a CHD diagnosis, care for the parent matters, too. Strengthening prenatal mental‑health care and social supports could improve both birth outcomes and early development for these high‑risk infants.
Source: Lisanti AJ, Min J, Hampton L, et al. “Determining associations between prenatal maternal mental health and social determinants of health with outcomes in children with critical CHD.” Cardiology in the Young. First published online August 11, 2025. DOI: 10.1017/S1047951125100772.