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Newborn infants' hair cortisol levels reflect chronic maternal stress during pregnancy.

ABSTRACT: Cortisol obtained from hair samples represents a retrospective biomarker of chronic stress experienced by the subject in previous months. Although hair cortisol levels have been used to study the relationship between maternal and neonatal stress levels in primates, this has not yet been performed in humans using a longitudinal design and focusing specifically on this association. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine whether a relationship existed between maternal psychological stress and hair cortisol levels during pregnancy and postpartum, and neonatal hair cortisol levels. The sample consisted of 80 pregnant women and their 80 newborn infants. We conducted a longitudinal assessment of hair cortisol levels, psychological stress, anxiety, and depression in the three trimesters of pregnancy and postpartum. After childbirth, neonatal hair cortisol levels were also measured. We found that maternal hair cortisol levels in the first trimester negatively predicted neonatal hair cortisol levels. Perceived stress in the third trimester of pregnancy also predicted lower neonatal cortisol, whereas pregnancy-specific stress in the same trimester had a positive relation with neonatal cortisol. Cortisol is essential for embryonic and fetal development; consequently, if fetal synthesis of cortisol is affected by high maternal cortisol levels, such development could be impaired.

SUBMITTER: Romero-Gonzalez B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6034834 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Newborn infants' hair cortisol levels reflect chronic maternal stress during pregnancy.

Romero-Gonzalez Borja B Caparros-Gonzalez Rafael A RA Gonzalez-Perez Raquel R Delgado-Puertas Pilar P Peralta-Ramirez Maria Isabel MI

PloS one 20180706 7

Cortisol obtained from hair samples represents a retrospective biomarker of chronic stress experienced by the subject in previous months. Although hair cortisol levels have been used to study the relationship between maternal and neonatal stress levels in primates, this has not yet been performed in humans using a longitudinal design and focusing specifically on this association. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine whether a relationship existed between maternal psychological ...[more]

PMID: 29979751

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Project description:BackgroundCurrently, there are no objective markers to measure treatment efficacy in chronic (distressing) tinnitus. This study explores whether stress-related biomarkers cortisol and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) measured in hair samples of chronic tinnitus patients change after compact multimodal tinnitus-specific cognitive behavioral therapy.MethodsIn this longitudinal study, hair-cortisol and hair-BDNF levels, self-reported tinnitus-related distress (Tinnitus Questionnaire; TQ), and perceived stress (Perceived Stress Questionnaire; PSQ-20) were assessed before and 3 months after 5 days of treatment in N = 80 chronic tinnitus patients. Linear mixed-effects models with backward elimination were used to assess treatment-induced changes, and a cross-lagged panel model (structural equation model) was used for additional exploratory analysis of the temporal associations between TQ and hair-BDNF.ResultsAt follow-up, a reduction in TQ (p < 0.001) and PSQ-20 scores (p = 0.045) was observed, which was not influenced by baseline hair-cortisol or hair-BDNF levels. No changes in biomarker levels were observed after treatment. The exploratory analysis tentatively suggests that a directional effect of baseline TQ scores on hair-BDNF levels at follow-up (trend; p = 0.070) was more likely than the opposite directional effect of baseline hair-BDNF levels on TQ scores at follow-up (n.s.).DiscussionWhile the treatment effectively reduced tinnitus-related distress and perceived stress in chronic tinnitus patients, this effect was not mirrored in biological changes. However, the lack of changes in hair-cortisol and hair-BDNF levels might have been influenced by the treatment duration, follow-up interval, or confounding medical factors, and therefore must be interpreted with caution. The relationship between tinnitus-related distress and hair-BDNF levels should be explored further to obtain a better understanding of stress-related effects in chronic tinnitus.

Project description:Newborn telomere length is a potential biomarker of the effects of maternal-fetal processes on offspring long-term health. A number of maternal psychosocial and environmental factors in pregnancy (e.g., stress, health, socioeconomic status) have been associated with shortened telomere length at birth. The physiological mechanisms responsible for potential effects of maternal factors on newborn telomere length have yet to be identified. Indirect evidence suggests that disruptions in maternal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning in pregnancy may be involved. Studies are needed that test whether maternal HPA axis functioning in pregnancy is associated with newborn telomere length. This study examined whether maternal HPA axis functioning across pregnancy, reflected in hair cortisol collected within one week after delivery, predicted newborn telomere length assessed from leukocyte cord blood collected at birth among 93 sociodemographically diverse mother-infant dyads. We further tested whether associations between maternal hair cortisol and newborn telomere length differed by infant sex, given documented sex differences in prenatal environmental exposure effects on offspring health, patterns of cortisol exposure during gestation, and telomere biology across the lifespan. In a multi-group structural equation modeling analysis that accounted for cortisol exposures across trimesters, maternal cortisol levels in pregnancy were not associated with newborn telomere length in the sample as a whole. However, significant sex differences emerged, with a significant positive association among females and a lack of a significant association among males. In addition, analyses revealed that cortisol levels were higher across trimesters among mothers of male infants than mothers of female infants. The results suggest that functioning of the maternal HPA axis in pregnancy may differ by fetal sex and have sex-specific effects on newborn telomere biology. These findings have implications for understanding the mechanisms by which maternal psychosocial and environmental exposures influence newborn telomere length and for elucidating mechanisms contributing to sex disparities in health.

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Newborn infants' hair cortisol levels reflect chronic maternal stress during pregnancy.

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Newborn infants' hair cortisol levels reflect chronic maternal stress during pregnancy.

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