Background: Psychosocial stress is a cardiovascular risk factor; however, little is known about whether prenatal psychosocial stressors influence postpartum cardiovascular health. We aimed to examine the associations of multiple measures of prenatal psychosocial stress on maternal blood pressure (BP) in the first 4 years after birth.
Methods: Among 225 MADRES cohort (Maternal and Developmental Risks From Environmental and Social Stressors) participants, we examined associations of average prenatal Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scores, and second-trimester neighborhood social cohesion scores on systolic and diastolic BP collected at annual postpartum study visits (1-4 years) using linear mixed-effects models, adjusted for covariates.