Prenatal stress and newborn telomere length

Area of Science:

• Developmental biology
• Genetics
• Public Health

Background:

• The developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis posits chronic diseases originate in fetal development.
• Maternal stress during pregnancy is linked to adverse long-term health outcomes in offspring.
• Telomere length regulation is a potential cellular mediator linking prenatal stress to disease.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of intrauterine maternal stress on newborn telomere length.
• To examine how prenatal stress affects telomere length frequency distributions in newborns.

Main Methods:

• Prospective cohort study of 24 mother-newborn dyads.
• Maternal psychosocial stress assessed using the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale in the third trimester.
• Newborn telomere length measured from cord blood using the Telomere Restriction Fragment assay.

Main Results:

• A significant negative association was found between maternal stress and newborn telomere length (β = -0.463, P = 0.04).
• Newborns of high-stress mothers had significantly shorter telomere length (6.98 ± 0.41 kb) compared to low-stress mothers (8.74 ± 0.24 kb).
• The difference in telomere length was attributed to a shift in distribution, with more shorter telomeres in the high-stress group.

Conclusions:

• Findings replicate previous studies linking prenatal stress to shorter mean newborn telomere length.
• This study demonstrates for the first time that prenatal stress shifts telomere length distribution in newborns.
• Altered telomere dynamics due to prenatal stress may contribute to long-term health and disease risks.