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Exploratory study evaluating the relationships between perinatal adversity, oxidative stress, and infant
Kameelah Gateau1,2, Lisa Schlueter3, Lara J Pierce4
1Department of Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
Insights
Early adversity impacts health. F2-Isoprostanes, a marker of oxidative stress, may help identify at-risk infants and mothers, enabling early interventions for better wellbeing.
Area of Science:
- Perinatal health
- Developmental psychology
- Biomarker research
Background:
- Early childhood adversity has lifelong health consequences.
- Existing screening tools for adversity are limited.
- Oxidative stress may be a physiological indicator of adversity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess F2-Isoprostanes as a biomarker for maternal and infant physiological response to perinatal adversity.
- To examine the relationship between F2-Isoprostanes, perinatal risk, and infant neurocognitive development.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of mother-infant dyads.
- Assessed maternal cumulative risk scores and mental health.
- Measured F2-isoprostane levels in mothers and infants.
- Evaluated infant neurocognitive development at 6 and 12 months.
Main Results:
- Higher cumulative risk scores correlated with elevated maternal and infant F2-isoprostane levels at 6 months.
- Infant F2-isoprostane levels at 2 months were negatively associated with 12-month neurocognitive scores.
- Cumulative risk predicted higher average maternal F2-isoprostane levels over one year.
Conclusions:
- F2-Isoprostanes may serve as a reliable biomarker for the physiological impact of early adversity in mothers and infants.
- These findings suggest a potential window for early screening and intervention using oxidative stress markers.
- Further research can validate F2-Isoprostanes for prospective risk assessment in pediatric settings.
Abstract:
Early childhood adversity increases risk for negative lifelong impacts on health and wellbeing. Identifying the risk factors and the associated biological adaptations early in life is critical to develop scalable early screening tools and interventions. Currently, there are limited, reliable early childhood adversity measures that can be deployed prospectively, at scale, to assess risk in pediatric settings. The goal of this two-site longitudinal study was to determine if the gold standard measure of oxidative stress, F2-Isoprostanes, is potentially a reliable measure of a physiological response to adversity of the infant and mother. The study evaluated the independent relationships between F2-Isoprostanes, perinatal adversity and infant neurocognitive development. The study included mother-infant dyads born >36 weeks' gestation. Maternal demographic information and mental health assessments were utilized to generate a perinatal cumulative risk score. Infants' development was assessed at 6 and 12 months and both mothers and infants were assayed for F2-isoprostane levels in blood and urine, respectively. Statistical analysis revealed that cumulative risk scores correlated with higher maternal (p = 0.01) and infant (p = 0.05) F2-isoprostane levels at 6 months. Infant F2-isoprostane measures at 2 months were negatively associated with Mullen Scales of Early Learning Composite scores at 12 months (p = 0.04). Lastly, higher cumulative risk scores predicted higher average maternal F2-isoprostane levels across the 1-year study time period (p = 0.04). The relationship between perinatal cumulative risk scores and higher maternal and infant F2-isoprostanes at 6 months may reflect an oxidative stress status that informs a sensitive period in which a biomarker can be utilized prospectively to reveal the physiological impact of early adversity.
