Exploring the relationship between maternal prenatal stress and brain structure in premature neonates.

<h4>Background</h4>Exposure to maternal stress in utero is associated with a range of adverse outcomes. We previously observed an association between maternal stress and white matter microstructure in a sample of infants born prematurely. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relati...

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Main Authors: Alexandra Lautarescu, Laila Hadaya, Michael C Craig, Antonis Makropoulos, Dafnis Batalle, Chiara Nosarti, A David Edwards, Serena J Counsell, Suresh Victor
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250413&type=printable
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author Alexandra Lautarescu
Laila Hadaya
Michael C Craig
Antonis Makropoulos
Dafnis Batalle
Chiara Nosarti
A David Edwards
Serena J Counsell
Suresh Victor
author_facet Alexandra Lautarescu
Laila Hadaya
Michael C Craig
Antonis Makropoulos
Dafnis Batalle
Chiara Nosarti
A David Edwards
Serena J Counsell
Suresh Victor
author_sort Alexandra Lautarescu
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Exposure to maternal stress in utero is associated with a range of adverse outcomes. We previously observed an association between maternal stress and white matter microstructure in a sample of infants born prematurely. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between maternal trait anxiety, stressful life events and brain volumes.<h4>Methods</h4>221 infants (114 males, 107 females) born prematurely (median gestational age = 30.43 weeks [range 23.57-32.86]) underwent magnetic resonance imaging around term-equivalent age (mean = 42.20 weeks, SD = 1.60). Brain volumes were extracted for the following regions of interest: frontal lobe, temporal lobe, amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus and normalized to total brain volume. Multiple linear regressions were conducted to investigate the relationship between maternal anxiety/stress and brain volumes, controlling for gestational age at birth, postmenstrual age at scan, socioeconomic status, sex, days on total parenteral nutrition. Additional exploratory Tensor Based Morphometry analyses were performed to obtain voxel-wise brain volume changes from Jacobian determinant maps.<h4>Results and conclusion</h4>In this large prospective study, we did not find evidence of a relationship between maternal prenatal stress or trait anxiety and brain volumes. This was the case for both the main analysis using a region-of-interest approach, and for the exploratory analysis using Jacobian determinant maps. We discuss these results in the context of conflicting evidence from previous studies and highlight the need for further research on premature infants, particularly including term-born controls.
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spelling doaj-art-7a93127aba734f4fafe94f2ced5f41c32025-08-20T03:25:35ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01164e025041310.1371/journal.pone.0250413Exploring the relationship between maternal prenatal stress and brain structure in premature neonates.Alexandra LautarescuLaila HadayaMichael C CraigAntonis MakropoulosDafnis BatalleChiara NosartiA David EdwardsSerena J CounsellSuresh Victor<h4>Background</h4>Exposure to maternal stress in utero is associated with a range of adverse outcomes. We previously observed an association between maternal stress and white matter microstructure in a sample of infants born prematurely. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between maternal trait anxiety, stressful life events and brain volumes.<h4>Methods</h4>221 infants (114 males, 107 females) born prematurely (median gestational age = 30.43 weeks [range 23.57-32.86]) underwent magnetic resonance imaging around term-equivalent age (mean = 42.20 weeks, SD = 1.60). Brain volumes were extracted for the following regions of interest: frontal lobe, temporal lobe, amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus and normalized to total brain volume. Multiple linear regressions were conducted to investigate the relationship between maternal anxiety/stress and brain volumes, controlling for gestational age at birth, postmenstrual age at scan, socioeconomic status, sex, days on total parenteral nutrition. Additional exploratory Tensor Based Morphometry analyses were performed to obtain voxel-wise brain volume changes from Jacobian determinant maps.<h4>Results and conclusion</h4>In this large prospective study, we did not find evidence of a relationship between maternal prenatal stress or trait anxiety and brain volumes. This was the case for both the main analysis using a region-of-interest approach, and for the exploratory analysis using Jacobian determinant maps. We discuss these results in the context of conflicting evidence from previous studies and highlight the need for further research on premature infants, particularly including term-born controls.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250413&type=printable
spellingShingle Alexandra Lautarescu
Laila Hadaya
Michael C Craig
Antonis Makropoulos
Dafnis Batalle
Chiara Nosarti
A David Edwards
Serena J Counsell
Suresh Victor
Exploring the relationship between maternal prenatal stress and brain structure in premature neonates.
PLoS ONE
title Exploring the relationship between maternal prenatal stress and brain structure in premature neonates.
title_full Exploring the relationship between maternal prenatal stress and brain structure in premature neonates.
title_fullStr Exploring the relationship between maternal prenatal stress and brain structure in premature neonates.
title_full_unstemmed Exploring the relationship between maternal prenatal stress and brain structure in premature neonates.
title_short Exploring the relationship between maternal prenatal stress and brain structure in premature neonates.
title_sort exploring the relationship between maternal prenatal stress and brain structure in premature neonates
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250413&type=printable
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