Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) after in‐utero opioid exposure remains a poorly understood condition with multiple factors contributing to severity. Exposure to maternal stress may be one contributing factor. Hair cortisol measurement represents a novel technique for assessing prenatal stress. In this pilot study, the association between maternal hair cortisol levels and NAS severity was examined in 70 postpartum women with opioid use disorder within 72 hr of delivery. Infants were monitored for NAS and treated according to institutional protocol. Forty‐four (63%) of the infants were pharmacologically treated for NAS, with a mean length of hospital stay (LOS) for all infants of 14.2 (
Maternal prenatal psychosocial stress is associated with adverse hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPAA) function among infants. Although the biological mechanisms influencing this process remain unknown, altered DNA methylation is considered to be one potential mechanism. We investigated associations between maternal prenatal psychological distress, infant salivary DNA methylation, and stress physiology at 12 months. Mother's distress was measured via depression and anxiety in early and late pregnancy in a cohort of 80 pregnant adolescents. Maternal hair cortisol was collected during pregnancy. Saliva samples were collected from infants at 12 months to quantify DNA methylation of three stress‐related genes (
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10387682
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Developmental Psychobiology
- Volume:
- 65
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0012-1630
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract SD 9.0) days. The mean cortisol level in the mothers was 131.8 pg/mg (SD 124.7). In bivariate analysis, higher maternal hair cortisol levels were associated with shorter infant LOS (R = −.26,p = .03) and fewer infant opioid treatment days (R = −.28,p = .02). Results were no longer statistically significant in regression models after adjusting for maternal opioid and smoking. In conclusion, we demonstrated the feasibility of hair cortisol assaying within the first few days after delivery in mothers with opioid use disorder as a novel marker for NAS. The findings suggest that maternal stress may impact the severity of infant opioid withdrawal. -
Objective. Maternal stress is a psychological response to the demands of motherhood. A high level of maternal stress is a risk factor for maternal mental health problems, including depression and anxiety, as well as adverse infant socioemotional and cognitive outcomes. Yet, levels of maternal stress (i.e., levels of stress related to parenting) among low-risk samples are rarely studied longitudinally, particularly in the first year after birth. Design. We measured maternal stress in an ethnically diverse sample of low-risk, healthy U.S. mothers of healthy infants (N = 143) living in South Florida across six time points between 2 weeks and 14 months postpartum using the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, capturing stress related to the mother, mother-infant interactions, and the infant. Results. Maternal distress increased as infants aged for mothers with more than one child, but not for first-time mothers whose distress levels remained low and stable across this period. Stress related to mother-infant dysfunctional interactions lessened over the first 8 months. Mothers’ stress about their infants’ difficulties decreased from 2 weeks to 6 months, and subsequently increased from 6 to 14 months. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that maternal stress is dynamic across the first year after birth. The current study adds to our understanding of typical developmental patterns in early motherhood and identifies potential domains and time points as targets for future interventions.more » « less
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We compared 572 pregnant women (319 first-time mothers) surveyed in spring 2020, during the first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns in the United States, with 99 pregnant women (all first-time mothers) surveyed before the pandemic (2014–2020). Compared with the prepandemic sample, women assessed during the pandemic showed elevated depression, anxiety, and stress and weaker prenatal bonding to their infants. These findings remained significant when restricting the pandemic sample to first-time mothers only and held after controlling for race/ethnicity, education, and pregnancy stage. Average levels of depression and anxiety within the pandemic group exceeded clinically significant thresholds, and women who estimated that the pandemic had more negatively affected their social relationships reported higher distress. However, pandemic-related changes to social contact outside the household were inconsistently associated with mental health and with some positive outcomes (fewer depressive symptoms, stronger prenatal bonding). Given that prenatal stress may compromise maternal and child well-being, the pandemic may have long-term implications for population health.
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Abstract An attention bias to threat has been linked to psychosocial outcomes across development, including anxiety (Pérez‐Edgar, K., Bar‐Haim, Y., McDermott, J. M., Chronis‐Tuscano, A., Pine, D. S., & Fox, N. A. (2010). Attention biases to threat and behavioral inhibition in early childhood shape adolescent social withdrawal.
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