192 research outputs found
Stress during Pregnancy and Offspring Pediatric Disease: A National Cohort Study
No full textBackground: Identifying risk factors for adverse health outcomes in children is important. The intrauterine environment plays a pivotal role for health and disease across life. Objectives: To conduct a comprehensive study to determine whether common psychosocial stress during pregnancy is a risk factor of a wide spectrum of pediatric diseases in the offspring. Methods: The study was conducted in a population-based sample of mothers with live singleton births (N=66203, 71.4% of those eligible) from the Danish National Birth Cohort, using prospective data. We estimated the association between maternal stress during pregnancy (classified based on two a priori defined indicators of common stress forms, life stress and emotional stress) and offspring diseases during childhood (grouped into 16 categories of ICD-10 diagnoses based on data from national registries), controlling for maternal stress after pregnancy. Results: Median age at end of follow-up was 6.2 (3.6-8.9) years. Life stress (highest compared to lowest quartile) was associated with an increased risk of conditions originating in the perinatal period [odds ratio (OR)=1.13; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.06-1.21] and congenital malformations (OR=1.17; CI=1.06-1.28), and of the first diagnosis of infection [hazard ratio (HR)=1.28; CI=1.17-1.39], mental disorders (age 0-2.5 years: HR=2.03; CI=1.32-3.14), eye (age 0-4.5 years: HR=1.27; CI=1.06-1.53), ear (HR=1.36; CI=1.23-1.51), respiratory (HR=1.27; CI=1.19-1.35), digestive (HR=1.23; CI=1.11-1.37), skin (HR=1.24; CI=1.09-1.43), musculoskeletal (HR=1.15; CI=1.01-1.30), and genitourinary diseases (HR=1.25; CI=1.08-1.45). Emotional stress was associated with an increased risk for the first diagnosis of infection (HR=1.09; CI=1.01-1.18) and a decreased risk for the first diagnosis of endocrine (HR=0.81; CI=0.67-0.99), eye (HR=0.84; CI=0.71-0.99), and circulatory diseases (age 0-3 years: HR=0.63; CI=0.42-0.95). Conclusions: Maternal life stress during pregnancy be a common risk factor for impaired child health. The results suggest new approaches to reduce childhood diseases
Psychosocial stress experience and DNA methylation in humans - implications for stress-adaptation and -resilience
No full textAbstract: Background: Psychosocial stress, especially early in life, is a risk factor for mental disorders. Recent evidence suggests that stress-related changes in epigenetic patterns, including DNA methylation, could mediate this association.
Aim: to examine a potential association between psychosocial stress exposure and DNA methylation of two stress-related genes: the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).
Methods: We investigated DNA methylation in three target sequences: OXTR1, OXTR2 and BDNF. The psychosocial stressors included: (1) maternal stress during pregnancy (prenatal stress, N=39); (2) low versus high maternal care during childhood (maternal care, N=85) and (3) acute psychosocial stress (N=83). In the prenatal stress study, DNA methylation of OXTR1 was quantified in cord-blood cells. In the maternal care and acute psychosocial stress study, DNA methylation of OXTR1, OXTR2 and BDNF was quantified in peripheral blood cells of adults.
Results: (1) Several indicators of increased prenatal stress predicted higher DNA methylation of OXTR1. (2) Adults reporting low maternal care showed increased OXTR2 DNA methylation compared to those reporting high maternal care. (3) Exposure to acute psychosocial stress was associated with dynamic changes in DNA methylation of OXTR – DNA methylation increased from pre- to post-stress in OXTR1 and decreased from post-stress to follow up in OXTR1 and OXTR2. Some of these changes might have been due to variations in blood cell count.
Discussion: Exposure to psychosocial stress was associated with target sequence-specific changes in OXTR DNA methylation. These results could contribute to our understanding of epigenetic processes involved in stress-adaptation. ---------- Zusammenfassung:
Hintergrund: Psychosozialer Stress, insbesondere während der frühen Entwicklung, ist ein
Risikofaktor für psychische Erkrankungen. Dieser Zusammenhang könnte durch stress- assoziierte epigenetische Veränderungen, z.B. in der DNA Methylierung, mediiert werden.
Ziel: ein potentieller Zusammenhang zwischen verschiedenen psychosozialen Stressoren und der DNA Methylierung zweier stress-assoziierter Gene zu untersuchen: dem Oxytozin Rezeptor (OXTR) und dem Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF).
Methode: DNA Methylierung wurde in drei DNA Zielsequenzen gemessen: OXTR1, OXTR2 und BDNF. Die untersuchten psychosozialen Stressoren waren: (1) mütterlicher Stress während der Schwangerschaft (pränataler Stress, N=39); (2) mütterliche Zuwendung in der Kindheit (N=85) und (3) akuter psychosozialer Stress im Erwachsenenalter (N=83). In der Studie zu pränatalem Stress wurde DNA Methylierung von OXTR1 im Nabelschnurblut gemessen; in den Studien zu mütterlicher Zuwendung und akutem psychosoziale Stress wurde DNA Methylierung von OXTR1, OXTR2 und BDNF in peripherem Blut gemessen.
Resultate: (1) Mehrere Indikatoren von pränatalem Stress sagten eine stärkere OXTR1 DNA Methylierung vorher. (2) Erwachsene, welche von wenig mütterlicher Zuwendung berichteten, hatten eine stärkere Methylierung in OXTR2 im Vergleich zu denjenigen mit mehr Zuwendung. (3) Akuter psychosozialer Stress war mit dynamischen Veränderungen in OXTR DNA Methylierung assoziiert: eine Erhöhung von Prä-Stress zu Post-Stress in OXTR1 und eine Erniedrigung von Post-Stress zu Follow-Up in OXTR1 und OXTR2, wobei einige dieser Veränderungen allenfalls durch Variationen in der Blutzell-Verteilung zustande kamen.
Diskussion: Psychosozialer Stress war assoziiert mit Veränderungen in der DNA Methylierung des OXTR. Die Resultate könnten zu einem besseren Verständnis von epigenetischen Stress-Adaptionsmechanismen beitragen
SIPS - Screening-Instrument für prämenstruelle Symptome : Die deutsche Version des Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool zur Erfassung klinisch relevanter Beschwerden
No full textPremenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) and severe Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) are common, yet often remain unrecognized and not adequately treated. One reason for this is the lack of a valid German screening instrument. The aim of the present study was to create a German version of the English "premenstrual symptoms screening tool (PSST)" and to verify its applicability. The German version of the PSST was created as "Screening- Instrument für Prämenstruelle Symptome (SIPS)" and its reliability and validity estimated based on data from 47 women with and without PMDD/severe PMS, using internet-based daily symptom-ratings. The retest-reliability of the SIPS was r=0.69, Cronbach`s Alpha was 0.924. As indicator of the convergent validity of the SIPS, there were significant differences between women with and without PMDD/severe PMS as identified by the SIPS, with regard to prospectively assessed premenstrual symptomatology (F(2,44)=4.52, p>0.001) and symptom change (F(2,44)=25.23, p>0.001). The SIPS is reliable and valid and may help improving the identification of women who require treatment for their premenstrual symptoms
Improving Ambulatory Saliva-Sampling compliance in Pregnant Women : A Randomized Controlled Study
No full textObjective: Noncompliance with scheduled ambulatory saliva sampling is common and has been associated with biased cortisol estimates in nonpregnant subjects. This study is the first to investigate in pregnant women strategies to improve ambulatory saliva-sampling compliance, and the association between sampling noncompliance and saliva cortisol estimates.
Methods: We instructed 64 pregnant women to collect eight scheduled saliva samples on two consecutive days each. Objective compliance with scheduled sampling times was assessed with a Medication Event Monitoring System and self-reported compliance with a paper-and-pencil diary. In a randomized controlled study, we estimated whether a disclosure intervention (informing women about objective compliance monitoring) and a reminder intervention (use of acoustical reminders) improved compliance. A mixed model analysis was used to estimate associations between women's objective compliance and their diurnal cortisol profiles, and between deviation from scheduled sampling and the cortisol concentration measured in the related sample.
Results: Self-reported compliance with a saliva-sampling protocol was 91%, and objective compliance was 70%. The disclosure intervention was associated with improved objective compliance (informed: 81%, noninformed: 60%), F(1,60) = 17.64, p<0.001, but not the reminder intervention (reminders: 68%, without reminders: 72%), F(1,60) = 0.78, p = 0.379. Furthermore, a woman's increased objective compliance was associated with a higher diurnal cortisol profile, F(2,64) = 8.22, p<0.001. Altered cortisol levels were observed in less objective compliant samples, F(1,705) = 7.38, p = 0.007, with delayed sampling associated with lower cortisol levels.
Conclusions: The results suggest that in pregnant women, objective noncompliance with scheduled ambulatory saliva sampling is common and is associated with biased cortisol estimates. To improve sampling compliance, results suggest informing women about objective compliance monitoring but discourage use of acoustical reminders
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