Latent Profiles of Maternal Stress and Infant Outcomes: Effects on Gestational Age

• In Event: 3-209 - Maternal Traumatic Stress Before and During Pregnancy: Pathways to Offspring Development

Integrative Statement

Introduction: Maternal prenatal stress adversely affects fetal growth and development, and has long-term consequences for the mother and child. However, data on what types of stress matter and in what amounts are scarce. Extant studies vary widely on measures used to operationalize maternal stress, and most do not extensively characterize the mother and child before birth even though they are a dyad sharing the same biopsychosocial context and mutually influence each other’s biology. Method: We identified three distinct latent profiles of maternal stress among 187 pregnant women with singleton pregnancies using data from questionnaires, ambulatory diaries and blood pressure assessment, fetal neurobehavioral monitoring, and serum and saliva samples. Results: Most (66.8%) of the sample were characterized as healthy; 17.1% were psychologically stressed with greater perceived stress, depression, anxiety and negative pregnancy experiences; and 16% were physically stressed with higher ambulatory blood pressure and increased caloric intake. Social support significantly discriminated between the three groups, which highlights an important target for early intervention. The male-female infant sex ratio was significantly lower than population norms in both stressed groups (1:2) and higher than typical in the healthy group (10:7), similar to results from epidemiological studies showing that male births are less common when there is acute and chronic maternal adversity. Relative to the healthy group, the physically stressed group had decreased FHR-movement coupling, an index of central nervous system development (p < .05). Relative to the healthy group, infants in the physically stressed group were born significantly earlier (39.2 weeks vs 37.6 weeks; p < .05). Similarly, infants in the psychologically stressed group were more likely than those in the healthy group to be born preterm (22% vs 5%, p < .01). Conclusions: These findings reveal distinct maternal-infant stress profiles before birth with a significant male vulnerability and suggest specific targets for development of future stress intervention approaches benefitting the mother and her future baby.

Authors

• Kate Walsh, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology
  Presenting Author

• Clare McCormack, Department of Psychiatry, Division of Behavioral Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, New York
  Non-Presenting Author

• Seonjoo Lee, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anita Pinto, Columbia University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rachel Webster, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Medical Center
  Non-Presenting Author

• Catherine Monk, Columbia University
  Non-Presenting Author