Female infants are more susceptible to the effects of maternal antenatal depression; findings from the Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort Study

•Antenatal depression of moderate severity did not raise the risk of adverse birth outcomes.•Severe levels of antenatal depression were associated with lower APGAR scores and being SGA.•In this group of severe antenatal depression we found an increased risk for lower weight scores, being SGA and in the lower 10th centile for length for female newborns only.•To our knowledge this is the first paper to systematically examine the potential effects of increasing severity levels of antenatal depression on birth outcomes.