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Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
06:39

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants

Published on: June 13, 2021

Stress during pregnancy and offspring pediatric disease: A National Cohort Study

Marion Tegethoff1, Naomi Greene, Jørn Olsen

  • 1Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.

Environmental Health Perspectives
|July 22, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Maternal life stress during pregnancy is linked to increased risks for various childhood diseases, including perinatal conditions and infections. This finding highlights the importance of prenatal care for child health outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Reproductive Health
  • Pediatric Health
  • Psychosocial Epidemiology

Background:

  • The intrauterine environment significantly influences a child's lifelong health and disease susceptibility.
  • Identifying prenatal risk factors for adverse pediatric health outcomes is crucial for public health.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between common psychosocial stress during pregnancy and a broad range of pediatric diseases in offspring.
  • To determine if maternal life stress and emotional stress are risk factors for specific childhood health conditions.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective cohort study using data from the Danish National Birth Cohort (n=66,203).
  • Maternal stress assessed via life and emotional stress indicators during pregnancy.
  • Offspring diseases categorized using the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, from national registries.

Main Results:

  • Maternal life stress was associated with increased risk for perinatal conditions, congenital malformations, infections, mental, eye, ear, respiratory, digestive, skin, musculoskeletal, and genitourinary diseases.
  • Emotional stress showed an association with increased infection risk and decreased risk for endocrine, eye, and circulatory diseases.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal life stress during pregnancy emerges as a potential common risk factor for impaired child health.
  • These findings suggest novel strategies for childhood disease prevention and intervention.
Abstract

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