Prospective Associations of Parental Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Maternal Prenatal Inflammation With Child Telomere Length

• In Event: Preconception and Prenatal Pathways to Child Biobehavioral Outcomes

Abstract

Background: Parental trauma, including that which occurs prior to birth or even prior to conception, exposure can increase risk for mental and physical health problems in offspring. Shortening of telomeres is an index of biological aging that may be a common mechanism underlying less favorable health outcomes in offspring of trauma-exposed individuals. Trauma-related distress has been associated with shortened telomere length and early life telomere length prospectively predicts less favorable health outcomes across development, but studies have yet to test associations of parental PTSD symptoms with child telomere length. This study examines associations of symptoms of maternal and paternal posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with child telomere length. Furthermore, this study tests whether prenatal inflammation is a biological pathway linking PTSD symptoms in mothers to child telomere length.
Methods: The current sample is composed of 127 mother-child pairs enrolled in a longitudinal investigation on preconception predictors of child outcomes and a subset of fathers who also enrolled (n = 84). Mothers and fathers reported on PTSD symptoms prior to conception or in early pregnancy. Mothers provided blood spots in the second and third trimester of pregnancy that were assayed for C-reactive protein (CRP). Children provided buccal cells for the measurement of telomere length at 3 to 5 years of age (Mage = 3.85, SDage = 0.52; 53.5% girls). At the time of conception, mean maternal age was 28.2 years old and mean paternal age was 31.5 years. About half of mothers (48.8%) and fathers (46.4%) identified as Hispanic/Latina. The average per capita household income was $12,604 (SD = $12,725). Linear regression and mediation models adjusting for socioeconomic status, maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index, child biological sex, and child age were conducted to test research questions using full information maximum likelihood to handle missing data.
Results: Greater maternal PTSD symptoms were significantly associated with shorter child telomere length (=-0.27 [-0.49, -0.04]) and greater paternal PTSD symptoms were marginally associated with shorter child telomere length (=-0.21 [-0.42, 0.01]). When testing whether maternal inflammation in pregnancy served as a biological mechanism linking maternal PTSD symptoms to child telomere length, results indicated that PTSD symptoms were not associated with second or third trimester CRP levels but that elevated second trimester CRP levels were associated with shorter child telomere length (=-0.36 [-0.49, -0.01]).
Conclusions: Both maternal and paternal PTSD symptoms were prospectively associated with shorter telomere length in their offspring at preschool age, an index of biological aging that can increase risk for less favorable health outcomes across the lifespan. Furthermore, higher levels of maternal inflammation in mid pregnancy predicted shorter child telomere length independently of PTSD symptoms. Findings indicate biological aging processes may be one pathway implicated in the intergenerational transmission of parental trauma and provide further evidence that the prenatal period is a sensitive period for maternal inflammatory influences on child telomere length. Parental PTSD symptoms before or during pregnancy may represent an optimal intervention target with potential benefits for the health of parents and children.

Author

• Gabrielle Rose Rinne, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author