Maternal Stress During Pregnancy Predicts Infant Infectious and Noninfectious Illness

To examine the association between prenatal stress and infant physical health in the first year of life within an understudied, racially and ethnically diverse, highly stressed community sample. We expected that greater stress exposure would predict higher rates of infant illness. Low-income, racial...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of pediatrics 2021-01, Vol.228, p.117-125.e2
Main Authors: Bush, Nicole R., Savitz, Jennifer, Coccia, Michael, Jones-Mason, Karen, Adler, Nancy, Boyce, W. Thomas, Laraia, Barbara, Epel, Elissa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
atopy
developmental origins of health and disease
Female
fetal programming
HPA axis
Humans
illness
immune system
Incidence
infant
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Newborn, Diseases - epidemiology
Infant, Newborn, Diseases - etiology
Infections - epidemiology
Infections - etiology
infectious illness
maternal stress
Middle Aged
Postpartum Period
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications - psychology
prenatal programming
Retrospective Studies
Stress, Psychological - complications
Stress, Psychological - psychology
United States - epidemiology
Young Adult
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Summary:To examine the association between prenatal stress and infant physical health in the first year of life within an understudied, racially and ethnically diverse, highly stressed community sample. We expected that greater stress exposure would predict higher rates of infant illness. Low-income, racially/ethnically diverse, overweight women with low medical risk pregnancies were recruited (2011-2014) during pregnancy. Pregnancy Stressful Life Events were assessed retrospectively (mean, 11.88 months postpartum). Perceived stress was assessed twice during pregnancy (at a mean of 17.4 weeks and again at a mean of 25.6 weeks) and at 6 months postpartum. Women with live births (n = 202) were invited; 162 consented to the offspring study. Medical records from pediatric clinics and emergency departments for 148 infants were abstracted for counts of total infectious illnesses, total noninfectious illness, and diversity of illnesses over the first year of life. The final analytic sample included 109 women (mean age, 28.08 years) and their infants. In covariate-adjusted negative binomial models, maternal perceptions of stress across pregnancy were positively associated with infant illness. Each 1-point increase in average stress was associated with a 38% increase in incidence of infant infections (Incidence rate ratio, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.01-1.88; P 
ISSN:0022-3476
1097-6833
DOI:10.1016/j.jpeds.2020.08.041