Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol
December 2024
Background: Evidence suggests that the intrauterine environment shapes offspring cardiovascular disease risk. Although placental dysfunction may be an important pathophysiologic pathway, numerous parental and pregnancy characteristics that influence offspring blood pressure are strong confounders of the mechanistic role of the placenta in observational analyses of singletons. Therefore, we leverage twin- and sibling-based comparison designs to determine whether placental pathology is associated with offspring blood pressure at age 7 while mitigating major sources of confounding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObesity (Silver Spring)
November 2024
Objective: Socioeconomic mobility, i.e., changing socioeconomic status (SES) between adolescence and adulthood, may impact health through changing resources, social status, and health-related behaviors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychoneuroendocrinology
November 2024
Purpose: Few longitudinal studies have investigated the mediating role of inflammation during childhood in associations between prenatal maternal stress and adolescent mental health. The objective of this study was to examine the associations between prenatal maternal stress, concentrations of immune markers at age 9, and symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and depression during adolescence.
Methods: This study included 3723 mother-child pairs from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).
Background: Maternal immune activation is a potential mechanism underlying associations between maternal stress during pregnancy and offspring mental health problems. This study examined associations between prenatal maternal stress, maternal inflammation during pregnancy, and children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms from 3 to 10 years of age, and whether maternal inflammation mediated the associations between prenatal maternal stress and children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms.
Methods: This study comprised 4,902 mother-child dyads in the Generation R study.
Purpose: Low early-life absolute and relative socioeconomic status (SES) may contribute to socioeconomic disparities in pregnancy complications (i.e., gestational diabetes mellitus [GDM], preeclampsia/eclampsia [PE], hypertensive disorders of pregnancy [HDP; preeclampsia/eclampsia, gestational hypertension, chronic hypertension]), but their independent associations with pregnancy complications have not been studied.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Few studies have examined how parenting influences the associations between prenatal maternal stress and children's mental health. The objectives of this study were to examine the sex-specific associations between prenatal maternal stress and child internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and to assess the moderating effects of parenting behaviors on these associations.
Methods: This study is based on 15 963 mother-child dyads from the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).
J Child Psychol Psychiatry
September 2023
Nomura et al. (Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2023) reported that children whose mothers were pregnant when Superstorm Sandy struck the Eastern Seaboard of the United States had elevated risk of psychopathology. Their study leverages data from a unique cohort of children established prior to Sandy that enabled researchers to investigate children's mental health depending on their prenatal exposure to the storm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have lasting effects on adult health and survival. In this study, we aimed to examine how the cumulative number and clustering patterns of ACEs were related to premature mortality.
Methods: Participants (=46 129; 45% White, 48% Black; 49·5% females) were offspring (born in 1959-1966) of participants enrolled in the Collaborative Perinatal Project (CPP).
Purpose: To determine whether peer drunkenness, parental knowledge about their adolescent's whereabouts and behaviors, and depressive symptoms contribute to sexual orientation disparities in high-risk drinking behaviors; if they do, they would be potential intervention targets.
Methods: Longitudinal survey data from 2,051 adolescents who participated in the NEXT Generation Health Study were analyzed. Latent growth curve and longitudinal path analyses were used to test for indirect effects linking sexual orientation in 11th grade (3.
Importance: Greater caffeine consumption in pregnancy is associated with reduced birth size, but potential associations with childhood growth are unclear.
Objective: To evaluate the associations of pregnancy caffeine and paraxanthine measures with child growth in a contemporary cohort with low caffeine consumption and a historical cohort with high caffeine consumption.
Design, Setting, And Participants: The Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes cohort of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Fetal Growth Studies (ECHO-FGS; 10 sites, 2009-2013) was a pregnancy cohort with 1 child measurement between ages 4 and 8 years (follow-up in 2017-2019).
Positive maternal mental health can improve perceptions of stressful situations and promote the use of adaptive coping strategies. However, few studies have examined how positive maternal mental health affects children's development. The aims of this study were to examine the associations between positive maternal mental health and children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and to ascertain whether positive maternal mental health moderated the associations between prenatal stress and children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Maternal prenatal stress and mood symptoms are associated with risk for child psychopathology. Within the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Fetal Growth Studies (ECHO-FGS), a racially and ethnically diverse cohort, we studied associations between prenatal stress and depressive symptoms with child neurobehavior, and potential mediation by fetal growth velocity (FGV) in low-risk pregnancies.
Method: For 730 mother-child pairs, we had serial ultrasound measurements, self-reports of prenatal stress and depression, observations of child executive functions and motor skills from 4 to 8 years, and maternal reports of child psychiatric problems.
Background: Preterm birth is associated with lower neurocognitive performance. However, whether children's neurodevelopment improves with longer gestations within the full-term range (37-41 weeks) is unclear. Given the high rate of obstetric intervention in the USA, it is critical to determine whether long-term outcomes differ for children delivered at each week of term.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSocial epidemiology is concerned with how social forces influence population health. Rather than focusing on a single disease (as in cancer or cardiovascular epidemiology) or a single type of exposure (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStress is associated with numerous chronic diseases, beginning in fetal development with in utero exposures (prenatal stress) impacting offspring's risk for disorders later in life. In previous studies, we demonstrated adverse maternal in utero immune activity on sex differences in offspring neurodevelopment at age seven and adult risk for major depression and psychoses. Here, we hypothesized that in utero exposure to maternal proinflammatory cytokines has sex-dependent effects on specific brain circuitry regulating stress and immune function in the offspring that are retained across the lifespan.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Prior studies have characterized distinct major depressive episode (MDE) subtypes among adults, yet limited evidence exists regarding variation in MDE during adolescence.
Methods: Using 2008-2016 National Survey of Drug Use and Health data, latent class analysis (LCA) was used to characterize depression subtypes (based on symptom presentation) among 9,896 youth ages 12-17 with recent first-onset MDE. Logistic regression was used to estimate associations of MDE subtype with functional outcomes and treatment utilization, adjusting for demographic characteristics and depression severity (i.
Purpose Of Review: Children living in socioeconomically disadvantaged households have excess risks of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric problems. The purpose of this review is to synthesize evidence for mechanisms that may contribute to these excess risks.
Recent Findings: The majority of the 60 studies included in our review focused on children's neurocognitive development and behavioural problems.