Open AccessExploring the relationship between maternal prenatal stress and brain structure in premature neonates
Author(s) -
Alexandra Lautarescu,
Laila Hadaya,
Michael C. Craig,
Antonis Makropoulos,
Dafnis Batallé,
Chiara Nosarti,
A. David Edwards,
Serena Counsell,
Suresh Victor
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0250413
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , gestational age , brain size , anxiety , medicine , white matter , pediatrics , magnetic resonance imaging , pregnancy , psychology , biology , psychiatry , radiology , genetics , paleontology
Background 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. Methods 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. Results and conclusion 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.