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Objectives: The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of maternal repetitive transcranial stimulation treatment during pregnancy, on neurodevelopment of children.
Methods: Women who were treated with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) during pregnancy and delivered liveborn children between 2008 and 2013 were selected. Mothers were contacted again after an average of 3.7 years (15 months–68 months) after the first study (between August and December 2013). All the infants were exposed to transcranial magnetic stimulation throughout the second and third trimesters (n=18). A control group consisted of children, whose mothers had a history of untreated depression during their pregnancy on second and third trimesters (n=26). Early developmental characteristics of all the children in the study were evaluated and also their developmental levels were determined using the Ankara Developmental Screening Inventory.
Results: The mean age of the children in the prenatal maternal rTMS treatment group was 32.4 months (range: 16-64 months) and the prenatal maternal untreated depression group was 29.04 (range: 14-63 months). Jaundice (n=2) and febrile convulsion (n=1) were the reported medical conditions in the children of prenatally rTMS treated maternal depression group, whereas jaundice (n=3) and low birth weight (n=1) were reported in the untreated prenatal maternal depression group. In the rTMS group, a delay in language development observed, but there were not any statistically significant differences in the prevalence rate compared to the untreated prenatal maternal depression group (OR= 0,38; 95% CI; 0,0860-1.6580).
Conclusion: Our results suggest that pregnancy rTMS exposure is not associated with poorer cognitive or motor development outcomes in 18-62 months aged children. Although language development seems to be found poorer than expected, the delay in language skills was found to be similar to the language delay observed in children of untreated prenatal depression, and that was reported in previous reports of SSRI treated prenatal depression. This information adds into the available data used by clinicians and mothers making critical decisions about the treatment of depression in pregnancy. However, given the small sample size these results need to be treated with caution.