Prenatal stress and newborn telomere length.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Prospective cohort study
PubMed 26829506 · doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2016.01.177
What was done
Researchers conducted a prospective cohort study of 24 mother-newborn dyads with uncomplicated pregnancies at an urban teaching hospital. Maternal psychosocial stress was assessed in the third trimester using the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale and dichotomized into high stress (≥300 points) or low stress (≤299 points). Newborn telomere length was measured from cord blood collected at delivery using the Telomere Restriction Fragment assay to analyze mean length and length frequency distributions.
What was found
Maternal stress was significantly negatively associated with newborn telomere length (β = -0.463, P = 0.04). Newborns of mothers in the high-stress group had significantly shorter mean telomere lengths (6.98 ± 0.41 kb) compared to those in the low-stress group (8.74 ± 0.24 kb; t = -3.99, P = 0.003). Distributional analysis showed an over-representation of shorter telomeres and an underrepresentation of longer telomeres in newborns of high-stress mothers.
Why it matters
This study provides preliminary evidence that maternal prenatal stress is linked to shorter telomeres at birth and shows that this reduction reflects an overall shift in telomere length distribution.
Limits
The sample size was very small (n = 24 dyads), which limits statistical power and generalizability. Stress was assessed using a single life-events scale, and potential confounders such as paternal telomere length, socioeconomic factors, or maternal biological variables were not reported in the abstract.
Cited by
- supports Severe maternal life events and stress during pregnancy and the year prior to birth predict shorter telomere length in newborn cord blood.