Maternal psychosocial functioning, obstetric health history, and newborn telomere length.

ABSTRACT: There is growing interest in elucidating the determinants of newborn telomere length, given its potential as a biomarker of lifetime disease risk affected by prenatal exposures. There is limited evidence that increased maternal stress during pregnancy predicts shorter newborn telomere length. However, the few studies published to date have been conducted primarily with small samples utilizing inconsistent definitions of maternal stress. Moreover, the potential influence of fetal sex as a moderator of maternal stress effects on newborn telomere length has been largely ignored despite compelling evidence of likely impact. In a prospective cohort study of pregnant women seeking routine prenatal care, we tested whether a range of maternal measures of stressor exposures, subjective feelings of

SUBMITTER: Bosquet Enlow M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7732207 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature