Maternal psychological stress during pregnancy and newborn telomere length: a systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: BMC psychiatry 2023-12, Vol.23 (1), p.947-947, Article 947
• Main Authors: Moshfeghinia, Reza, Torabi, Ali, Mostafavi, Sara, Rahbar, Shiva, Moradi, Mohammad Sanyar, Sadeghi, Erfan, Mootz, Jennifer, Vardanjani, Hossein Molavi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chromosomes; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Cross-sectional studies; Environmental factors; Female; Genetic aspects; Health aspects; Hormones; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Infants (Newborn); Maternal stress; Mathematical models; Meta-analysis; Metabolic syndrome; Mothers; Neonates; Newborn; Newborn babies; Oxidative stress; Pediatric research; Pregnancy; Pregnant women; Prenatal influences; Psychological aspects; Psychological assessment; Quality control; Quantitative analysis; Research Design; Reviews; Statistical analysis; Stress (Psychology); Stress, Psychological - complications; Structure; Systematic review; Telomerase; Telomere; Telomere Shortening; Telomeres; Womens health
• ISSN: 1471-244X; 1471-244X
• DOI: 10.1186/s12888-023-05387-3

Telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes, and shorter leukocyte telomeres are associated with major group diseases. Maternal psychological stress may be related to the shortening of telomeres in infants. This systematic review and meta-analysis set out to consolidate the varying effect sizes found in studies of maternal psychological stress and telomere length (TL) in newborns and identify moderators of the relationship between stress during pregnancy and newborn TL. Our systematic review was registered in Prospero. Six databases (PubMed, Scopus, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and CINAHL Complete) were searched for records in English from inception to February 10, 2023. Observational studies were included that measured the relationship of psychological stress of the mother during pregnancy on the TL of the newborn. The Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale was used to assess the quality of the included studies. A random-effect model was selected. Statistical analysis performed by Stata software version 17. Eight studies were included for qualitative and four for quantitative analysis. There was an inverse statistically significant relationship between maternal stress and newborn TL; A one score increase in maternal psychological stress resulted in a 0.04 decrease in the TL of the newborn (B = -0.04, 95% CI = [-0.08, 0.00], p = 0.05). Selectivity analysis showed that the pooled effect size was sensitive to one study; After removing this study, the pooled effect size remained significant (B = -0.06, 95% CI = [-0. 10, -0.02], p