Exposure to traumatic events in childhood predicts cortisol production among high risk pregnant women

Abstract

Childhood exposure to traumatic events has a profound and disruptive impact on mental and physical health, including stress physiology. In the current study, we evaluate 90 pregnant women at risk for preterm delivery and assess the association between history of exposure to traumatic events and hair cortisol concentrations, an integrated measure of cortisol production. Exposure to more traumatic events in childhood and in adulthood independently predicted elevated hair cortisol concentrations in pregnancy. Notably, the impact of childhood exposure to traumatic events remained after accounting for more proximal traumatic events in adulthood. Further, there was a significant interaction between childhood and adult exposures. Traumatic experiences in adulthood were more strongly associated with hair cortisol concentrations among mothers with a history of greater childhood trauma. Findings suggest that not only do proximal adult exposures impact HPA-axis functioning during pregnancy, but that childhood traumatic experiences have persisting consequences for HPA-axis functioning during pregnancy. Maternal HPA- axis dysregulation in pregnancy has consequences for both maternal health and for fetal development. Therefore, we consider prenatal maternal HPA-axis functioning as a potential biological pathway underlying intergenerational consequences of childhood trauma.

The Impact of Parental Role Distributions, Work Participation, and Stress Factors on Family Health-Related Outcomes: Study Protocol of the Prospective Multi-Method Cohort “Dresden Study on Parenting, Work, and Mental Health” (DREAM)

“…As mentioned above, recent studies found close links between trauma exposure across the lifespan and long-term regulation of HPA axis activity (Steudte-Schmiedgen et al, 2016; Pervanidou et al, 2017). Interestingly, initial cross-sectional HCC research supports the notion of a relationship between lifetime trauma exposure, childhood abuse, and HCC during pregnancy (Schreier et al, 2015, 2016; Swales et al, 2018). A prospective study further confirmed associations between maternal lifetime trauma history, HCC reflecting the third trimester of pregnancy, and subsequent infant negative affectivity at the age of 6 month (Bosquet Enlow et al, 2017).…”

Pregnancy as a period of risk, adaptation, and resilience for mothers and infants

“…Childhood adversity may contribute to maladaptive alterations in stress physiology during pregnancy, such as greater maternal HPA axis dysregulation evidenced by both elevated and suppressed concentrations of cortisol during pregnancy (Bowers & Yehuda, 2016; Schreier, Enlow, Ritz, Gennings, & Wright, 2015; Swales et al, 2018). Maternal report of childhood maltreatment is linked to elevations in hair cortisol concentrations during pregnancy (Schreier et al, 2015) and has been found to amplify the impact of women's more proximal exposure to adulthood traumatic events prior to pregnancy on prenatal hair cortisol concentrations (Swales et al, 2018). Further, childhood maltreatment also is associated with alterations in placental–fetal stress physiology, including significantly steeper increases in placental CRH across gestation (Buss et al, 2017; Moog et al, 2018).…”

“…Thus, pregnancy is a sensitive period when the dyad is vulnerable to the effects of adversity; however, mothers and infants also are especially receptive to salutary influences. Research has found that maternal exposure to adversity prior to conception (particularly during her childhood) can have transformative neurobiological and epigenetic effects that may be biologically embedded and transmitted to the fetus (Swales et al, 2018; Yehuda & Meaney, 2018). Compared to women without early-life adversity and mental health problems prior to pregnancy, pregnant women with a history of adversity and mental health problems may experience more risks to their mental health and more disruptions to their prenatal stress physiology.…”

Prenatal maternal hair cortisol concentrations are related to maternal prenatal emotion dysregulation but not neurodevelopmental or birth outcomes

“…If stress is related to HPA axis output, and cortisol can be measured in hair, it follows that stress experienced during pregnancy should be related to hair cortisol concentrations. Indeed, self‐reported prenatal stress and anxiety, and even stress experienced in childhood such as preconception stress, trauma exposure, and childhood physical and/or sexual abuse have all been associated with elevated hair cortisol concentrations during pregnancy (Hoffman, Mazzoni, Wagner, Laudenslager, & Ross, ; Kalra, Einarson, Karaskov, Van Uum, & Koren, ; Orta et al, , ; Schreier et al, ; Swales et al, ). On the other hand, no associations were found between hair cortisol concentrations and maternal depression in the second trimester, pregnancy‐related anxiety, somatization, or stress symptoms in other research (Braig et al, ; Kramer et al, ; Scharlau et al, ; Wikenius et al, ).…”