Maternal lifetime stress and placental mitochondrial DNA mutational load: Effect modification by maternal...

Maternal psychosocial stress is associated with perturbations in biological systems, including placental alterations with implications for fetal programming. Here, we examined associations between maternal lifetime stress and placental mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutational load, while considering modifying effects of maternal characteristics.

In 496 participants from the PRISM cohort, we profiled placental mtDNA mutational load with next-generation sequencing. We used negative binomial regression models to investigate associations between maternal lifetime stress/trauma using the Life Stressor Checklist-Revised (LSC-R), and placental mtDNA mutational load and, assessed effect modification by obesity and race/ethnicity in stratified models.

We detected 1,357 distinct mutations, most were homoplasmies and transitions. There was moderate evidence of an association between an interquartile increase in LSC-R and mtDNA mutational load, with incident rate ratio (IRR) 1.04 (95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.99, 1.09). In stratified analyses, associations were stronger in the non-obese than the obese, although estimates were imprecise in both groups. In analyses stratified by race/ethnicity, higher stress/trauma was associated with higher mtDNA mutational load only in Black women (IRR 1.07, 95%CI, 1.01-1.14). In analyses stratified by obesity and race/ethnicity, higher stress was associated with increased mtDNA mutational load in Black women in the non-obese (IRR = 1.09, 95%CI, 1.02-1.17) subgroup, but not in the obese (IRR = 1.02, 95%CI, 0.91-1.13) subgroup.

We found associations between maternal lifetime stress/trauma and placental mtDNA mutational load with differential association by obesity and race/ethnicity. Further work exploring the role of stress-related mitochondrial pathways in maternal and birth outcomes is warranted.