Sex-specific association of high maternal psychological stress during pregnancy on newborn birthweight

Bernard, Nathalie; Giguère, Yves; Mélançon, Joanie; Tessier, R; Tarabulsy, George M.; Forest, Jean‐Claude

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0262641

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(82 reference statements)

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“…90 Given that previous evidence found child sex may moderate the effects of maternal ACEs, 9 the lower GAA in females observed in our study may be a sex-dependent effect on adaptation to maternal adversities during pregnancy. 91 Our results suggest that maternal ACE exposure may have a different effect on male infants vs female infants, which may have important implications for developmental milestones and long-term health between sexes, although this needs to be further explored.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences and Biological Aging During Pregnancy and in Newborns

Dye,

Alschuler,

et al. 2024

JAMA Netw Open

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ImportanceAdverse childhood experiences (ACEs), potentially traumatic experiences occurring before the age of 18 years, are associated with epigenetic aging later in life and may be transmitted across generations.ObjectiveTo test evidence of the transmission of biological embedding of life experience across generations by analyzing maternal ACEs and epigenetic clocks measured in mothers during pregnancy and in their children at birth.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsFor this cross-sectional study, data from the Accessible Resource for Integrated Epigenomic Studies (ARIES) substudy of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were analyzed. The ALSPAC study recruited 14 541 women who gave birth in the Avon Health District in the UK between April 1, 1991, and December 31, 1992. The ARIES substudy comprised 1018 mother-offspring dyads based on the availability of DNA samples profiled in 2014. Epigenetic age was estimated using DNA methylation-based epigenetic clocks (including Horvath, Hannum, GrimAge, PhenoAge, and DunedinPACE) in mothers during pregnancy and the Knight and Bohlin cord blood epigenetic clocks in newborns. Analyses were performed between October 1, 2022, and November 30, 2023.ExposuresA composite measure of maternal ACEs was the primary exposure in both maternal and offspring models; as a secondary analysis, individual ACEs were measured separately. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used to investigate depression during pregnancy as an exposure.Main Outcomes and MeasuresChanges in epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) were investigated as the primary outcome in maternal models during pregnancy. Changes in epigenetic gestational age acceleration (GAA) were the primary outcome in offspring analyses. Linear regression analyses were used to determine the association between maternal ACEs and both outcomes.ResultsThis study included 883 mother-child dyads. The mean (SD) maternal age at delivery was 29.8 (4.3) years. Pregnant women with higher ACE scores exhibited higher GrimAge EAA (β, 0.22 [95% CI, 0.12 to 0.33] years; P &lt; .001). Maternal ACEs were not associated with GAA in newborns using P &lt; .05 as a cutoff to determine statistical significance. Depression was associated with higher GrimAge EAA (β, 0.06 [95% CI, 0.02 to 0.10] years; P = .01) in mothers during pregnancy, but not in newborns, and did not mediate the association between ACEs and EAA.Conclusions and RelevanceThe findings of this study suggest that maternal ACEs may be associated with epigenetic aging later in life, including during pregnancy, supporting a role for maternal ACEs in offspring development and health later in life.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences and Biological Aging During Pregnancy and in Newborns

Dye,

Alschuler,

et al. 2024

JAMA Netw Open

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“…For these reasons, SRB and its fluctuations are considered in the literature to be a valuable indicator of general population health and that of gestating women in particular (Bernard et al, 2022; Davis et al, 1998). Trivers and Willard (1973) suggest that “natural selection should favour the ability of parents to adjust the sex ratio of the offspring according to their capacity to invest in parenting” to explain variations in SRB; mammalian females, including humans, are therefore subject to adaptive mechanisms to adjust the sex ratio of offspring in response to maternal conditions in order to achieve optimal reproductive rewards.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of catastrophic events on the sex ratio at birth: A systematic review

Fontanesi,

Verrocchio,

D'Ettorre

et al. 2023

American J Hum Biol

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ObjectiveThe impact of maternal stress on birth outcomes is well established in the scientific research. The sex ratio at birth (SRB), namely the ratio of male to female live births, shows significant alteration when mothers experience acute stress conditions, as proposed by the Trivers‐Willard Hypothesis. We aimed to synthetize the literature on the relationship between two exogenous and catastrophic stressful events (natural disasters and epidemics) and SRB.MethodsA systematic search was run in Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library, until March 9, 2023. The search produced 1336 articles and 25 articles met the inclusion criteria. We found seven case–control studies and 18 observational studies. Most of studies investigated the impact of earthquakes and other natural disasters. Only seven studies examined the effect of epidemics or pandemics.ResultsThe results of the studies seem inconsistent, as 16 studies found a decline in SRB, three found a rise, four did not record any change and two studies gave contradictory results. The period and population analyzed, the source of information, the method of variance analysis in the SRB, and the failure to assess confounding variables may have influenced the incongruence of the results.ConclusionOur findings contribute to improve the knowledge about the relationship between socio‐ecological factors and SRB. Future studies should investigate the mechanisms by which this relationship impacts public health, in particular the health of pregnant women and their newborn, through an accurate and consistent methodology that also includes confounding factors.

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“…A high maternal birth weight has a larger impact on the birth weight of male compared with female infants [ 10 ]. In addition, prenatal maternal stress is associated with adverse birth outcomes, including reduced birth weight in female infants [ 11 ] but increased birth weight in males [ 12 ]. Hence, it is important to consider infant sex when studying effects on fetal growth and birth size.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Mid-pregnancy Blood-Based Proteins as Possible Biomarkers of Increased Infant Birth Size in Sex-Stratified Analyses

et al. 2022

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The objective of this study was to evaluate the associations of 92 maternal blood-based proteins with increased infant birth size. The study was performed at the Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden, and included 857 mother and child dyads. The mean age of the women was 30.3 years, and 53.2% were nulliparous. Blood samples were collected at mean 18 + 2 weeks’ gestation, and the Olink cardiovascular II panel was used to measure 92 proteins, either known to be or suspected to be markers of cardiovascular and inflammatory disease in humans. Multiple linear regression models adjusted for maternal age, parity, pre-conception BMI, height, and smoking were performed to evaluate the association of each individual protein with infant birth size. We also performed sex-stratified analyses. Eight proteins (Matrix metalloproteinase-12 (MMP-12), Prostasin (PRSS8), Adrenomedullin (ADM), Pappalysin-1 (PAPP-A), Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), Sortilin (SORT1), Lectin-like oxidized LDL receptor 1 (LOX-1), and Thrombomodulin (TM)) were associated with infant birth size after false discovery rate adjustment. In the analyses including only female infants, ten proteins (MMP-12, Growth/differentiation factor 2 (GDF-2), PRSS8, SORT1, ADM, Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist protein (IL-1ra), Leptin (LEP), ACE2, TM, and Tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 11A (TNFRSF11A)) were associated with infant birth size. Two proteins (PAPP-A and PRSS8) were associated with infant birth size among male infants. Our study suggests several proteins as potential biomarkers for increased birth weight, and our findings could act as a base for future research to identify new potential markers that could be added to improve screening for large infants.

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Sex-specific association of high maternal psychological stress during pregnancy on newborn birthweight

Cited by 7 publications

References 51 publications

Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences and Biological Aging During Pregnancy and in Newborns

Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences and Biological Aging During Pregnancy and in Newborns

The impact of catastrophic events on the sex ratio at birth: A systematic review

Early Mid-pregnancy Blood-Based Proteins as Possible Biomarkers of Increased Infant Birth Size in Sex-Stratified Analyses

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