Prenatal maternal stress: triangulating evidence for intrauterine exposure effects on birth and early childhood outcomes across multiple approaches.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Maternal stress during pregnancy may impact offspring development via changes in the intrauterine environment. However, genetic and environmental factors shared between mothers and children might skew our understanding of this pathway. This study assesses whether prenatal maternal stress has causal links to offspring outcomes: birthweight, gestational age, or emotional and behavioral difficulties, triangulating across methods that account for various measured and unmeasured confounders.

Methods

We used data from the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), including maternal reports on prenatal stress at work, at home, and via stressful life events as exposures. Outcomes were children's birthweight and gestational age, from the Medical Birth Regist

SUBMITTER: Lund IO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11753172 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature