Early life disease programming during the preconception and prenatal period: making the link between stressful life

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Jasveer Virk1, Jiong Li, Mogens Vestergaard

  • 1Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America. jasvirk@ucla.edu

Plos One
|July 17, 2010
PubMed

Insights

Maternal bereavement during pregnancy may increase a child's risk of developing type-1 diabetes, particularly for female infants. This study highlights the impact of prenatal stress on long-term health outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Perinatal epidemiology
  • Endocrinology
  • Psychoneuroimmunology

Background:

  • Maternal bereavement during pregnancy or the year prior may impact child health.
  • Understanding the link between prenatal stress and type-1 diabetes is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between maternal bereavement and the risk of type-1 diabetes in offspring.
  • To determine if prenatal or preconception exposure to loss influences type-1 diabetes development.

Main Methods:

  • A large cohort study of singleton births in Denmark (1979-2004).
  • Included over 1.5 million births, with nearly 40,000 exposed to maternal bereavement.
  • Type-1 diabetes hospitalization was the primary outcome measure.

Main Results:

  • A significant association was found between prenatal exposure to father or sibling death and type-1 diabetes.
  • The risk was notably higher for girls exposed to bereavement (aIRR: 2.91).

Conclusions:

  • Prenatal exposure to severe stress, such as parental or sibling loss, may increase type-1 diabetes risk.
  • Female fetuses appear particularly vulnerable to the effects of prenatal stress on type-1 diabetes development.
Abstract

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