Maternal ante- and postnatal anxiety have been associated with children's socio-emotional development. Moreover, maternal anxiety has been studied as both a contributing factor and consequence of preterm birth, and children born preterm are more likely to develop behavioural problems compared to term-born controls. This study investigated the association between maternal anxiety measured soon after birth and mental health in 215 ex-preterm children, born at <33 weeks, who participated in the Evaluation of Preterm Imaging Study. Children were followed-up at a median age of 4.6 years (range 4.2–6.6), and received behavioural and cognitive evaluation. Maternal trait anxiety was assessed with the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Index at term corrected age. Primary outcome measures were children's Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Social Responsiveness Scale 2 (SRS-2) scores, indicative of generalised psychopathology and autism symptomatology, respectively. IQ was assessed with the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence. The final sample, after excluding participants with missing data and multiple pregnancy (n = 75), consisted of 140 children (51.4% male). Results showed that increased maternal trait anxiety at term corrected age was associated with children's higher SDQ scores (β = 0.25, 95% CI 0.09–0.41, p = 0.003, f² = 0.08) and SRS-2 scores (β = 0.15, 95% CI 0.02–0.28, p = 0.03, f² = 0.04). Our findings indicate that children born preterm whose mothers are more anxious in the early postnatal period may show poorer mental health outcomes at pre-school age. Further research is needed to investigate preventative measures that can be offered to high-risk premature babies and their families.

母亲的产前和产后焦虑与儿童的社会情感发展有关。此外，已经对产妇的焦虑进行了研究，将其作为早产的一个影响因素和后果，与早产对照相比，早产儿更容易出现行为问题。这项研究调查了参加早产影像研究评估的215名<33周出生的早产儿，出生后不久测得的母亲焦虑与心理健康之间的关联。对儿童进行了随访，中位年龄为4.6岁（范围4.2-6.6），并接受了行为和认知评估。用斯皮尔伯格状态-特质焦虑指数在足月矫正年龄评估产妇特质焦虑。主要结果指标是儿童 的“长处和困难量表”（SDQ）和“社会反应能力量表2”（SRS-2）得分，分别表示广义的心理病理学和自闭症症状。智商通过Wechsler学前和初级智力量表进行评估。最终样本排除了缺少数据和多次怀孕的参与者（n  = 75），由140名儿童组成（男性占51.4％）。结果显示，足月矫正年龄的孕产妇性状焦虑增加与儿童较高的SDQ得分（β= 0.25，95％CI 0.09–0.41，p  = 0.003，f ²  = 0.08）和SRS-2得分（β= 0.15，95 ）相关。 ％CI 0.02–0.28，p  = 0.03，f ²  = 0.04）。我们的研究结果表明，早产儿的母亲在产后早期更加焦虑，其学龄前儿童的心理健康状况可能较差。需要进行进一步的研究，以研究可以为高危早产儿及其家庭提供的预防措施。