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Parental Preconception Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Maternal Prenatal Inflammation Prospectively Predict Shorter

Gabrielle R Rinne1, Judith E Carroll, Christine M Guardino

  • 1From the Department of Psychology (Rinne, Dunkel Schetter), Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology (Carroll), Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences (Carroll), Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior (Carroll), David Geffen School of Medicine (Carroll), University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Department of Psychology (Guardino), Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Shalowitz), Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois; and Fralin Biomedical Research Institute (Ramey), Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia.

Psychosomatic Medicine
|August 18, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Parental posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is linked to shorter child telomere length, a marker of biological aging. Maternal inflammation during pregnancy also correlated with shorter telomeres in offspring, suggesting trauma pathways to child health.

Area of Science:

  • Psychoneuroimmunology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Parental trauma exposure and distress can negatively impact offspring health.
  • Intergenerational transmission of trauma effects is not fully understood.
  • Accelerated biological aging, indicated by telomere length, may be a key mechanism.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between parental posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and child telomere length.
  • To examine maternal prenatal C-reactive protein (CRP) as a potential mediator in this transmission.
  • To explore the link between parental trauma and offspring biological aging.

Main Methods:

  • Mothers (n=127) and fathers (n=84) reported preconception PTSD symptoms.
  • Maternal blood spots were collected for C-reactive protein (CRP) assay during pregnancy.
  • Child telomere length was measured at age 4 using buccal cells.

Main Results:

  • Maternal PTSD symptoms were significantly associated with shorter child telomere length.
  • Paternal PTSD symptoms showed a nonsignificant inverse association with child telomere length.
  • Maternal second-trimester CRP was significantly associated with shorter child telomere length.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal PTSD symptoms and prenatal inflammation are linked to shorter offspring telomere length.
  • These findings suggest biological aging pathways in intergenerational trauma transmission.
  • Prenatal inflammatory processes may influence child telomere length programming.
Abstract

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