The Role of Maternal Early and Perinatal Stress on Maternal and Infant Outcomes in BABIP birth cohort

Abstract

Early life stress is associated with health outcomes across the lifespan, with potential intergenerational effects on the child, partly through altered maternal physiology and mood during the pregnancy. BABIP prospective birth cohort from Turkey investigates how maternal early life and perinatal stress are associated with maternal stress physiology and infant outcomes. In this talk, the interaction between maternal early and perinatal stressors on maternal cortisol and inflammation levels during pregnancy, as well as on infant birth and developmental outcomes will be presented. Participants were 193 women recruited during the second trimester of pregnancy (Mage = 32.49, SDage = 4.02) and their infants. Sixty-two percent of women were recruited during the COVID-19 pandemic. Maternal early life stress, perinatal mood, stress physiology (salivary diurnal cortisol, plasma CRP) and infant birth and developmental outcomes were assessed across the perinatal period. Maternal early adversity was significantly associated with all perinatal mood measures, while being pregnant during the pandemic influenced perinatal mood mainly in the 3rd, but not 2nd trimester. Maternal early adversity was also associated with maternal prenatal cortisol and CRP measures and infant outcomes, some of which were moderated by perinatal mood and timing during pregnancy. The results support literature on long-term impact of early life stress that may be reflected across generations and moderated by perinatal stress.