Prenatal inflammation and trauma symptoms in Latina mothers: The role of discrimination and growing up in an ethnic minoritized context.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The race-based traumatic stress model proposes that discrimination elicits trauma-related symptoms. Cumulative discriminatory experiences and subsequent trauma symptoms may lead to prenatal inflammation, with far reaching consequences for the health of a mother and her child.

Methods

Latina mothers, primarily of Mexican and Central American heritage (n = 150), completed the Everyday Discrimination Scale and the Traumatic Avoidance subscale of the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms-II during pregnancy (24-32 weeks). Plasma levels of cytokines were measured with multiplex assays, which were aggregated into a pro-inflammatory cytokine profile (IL-1β, TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-8) after a Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported this approach.

Results

SUBMITTER: Alvarado-Harris R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11638603 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature