Main Findings
Infants of mothers reporting severe anxiety symptoms in the
17th gestational week were more likely to have lower
birth weight than infants born to mothers with very light anxiety
symptoms or none at all. This association was reduced, but remained,
after adjusting for shared family factors as well as smoking and alcohol
consumption. However, in the sibling subsample, once socio-demographic
variables were controlled for, the association was no longer
significant. In regard to prenatal anxiety and gestational age, there
wass no significant change before and after family adjustment. After
multiple imputations, maternal anxiety at week 30 in pregnancy was
significantly associated with shorter gestational age.