Maternal psychological distress before birth influences gut immunity in mid‐infancy

Abstract

Background: Maternal pre-postnatal psychosocial distress increases the risk for childhood allergic disease. This may occur through a host immunity pathway that involves intestinal secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA). Experimental animal models show changes in the gut microbiome and immunity of offspring when exposed to direct or prenatal maternal stress, but little is known in humans. Objective:We determined the association between maternal depression and stress symptom trajectories and infant fecal sIgA concentrations. Methods: 1043 term infants from the Canadian Healthy Infant LongitudinalDevelopment (CHILD) birth cohort were studied. Trajectories of maternal perceived stress and depression were based on scored scales administered in pregnancy and postpartum. sIgA was quantified in infant stool (mean age 3.7 months) with Immundiagnostik ELISA. Linear regression and logistic regression were employed to test associations.Results: Very low fecal sIgA concentrations were more common in infants of mothers in the antepartum and persistent depression trajectories (6% and 2% of women, respectively). Independent of breastfeeding status at fecal sampling, infant antibiotic exposure or other covariates, the antepartum depressive symptom trajectory was associated with reduced mean infant sIgA concentrations (β=−0.07, P < .01) and a two fold risk for lowest quartile concentrations (OR, 1.86; 95% CI: 1.02, 3.40). This | 179KANG et Al.

The Impact of Antepartum Depression and Postpartum Depression on Exclusive Breastfeeding: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Nine studies on the association between antepartum depression and exclusive breastfeeding at 3 to 6 months postpartum were identified. Most of these studies measured antepartum depression during either the second or third trimester (Abdul Raheem et al, 2019; Ahlqvist-Björkroth et al, 2016; Coo et al, 2020; Figueiredo et al, 2014; Kang et al, 2020; Rahman et al, 2016), with one assessing this during the first trimester (Do et al, 2021). Two studies assessed antepartum depression during more than two trimesters (Figueiredo et al, 2014; Verbeek et al, 2019).…”

Prenatal Depression, Breastfeeding, and Infant Gut Microbiota

“…More recently, restraint stress in a murine model raised the extent of gut IgA binding of microbiota like the Lachnospiraceae; this result was replicated in fecal samples from adults with irritable bowel syndrome, a condition often aggravated by stress (Rengarajan et al, 2020). Kang et al (2020) published the first human report regarding the independent association between maternal depressive symptomatology during pregnancy and compromised gut immunity in offspring. This recent study which examined infant fecal sIgA concentrations in relation to maternal depression trajectories, revealed that infants born to mothers in the prenatal trajectory (high depressive symptoms scores primarily during pregnancy) were twice more likely to have lower sIgA concentrations than infants of mothers with low symptom scores.…”

The role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of perinatal depression and offspring outcomes

“…There are examples in the literature of maternal depression being associated with offspring immune functioning. For example, in a large cohort study, antenatal depression, but not postnatal depression, was associated with reduced infant faecal secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) concentrations, independently of breastfeeding status ( Kang et al., 2020 ). These alterations as a result of maternal affect may be especially salient in certain subgroups, for example in a study which compared preterm with term births, it was found that in the preterm group only, maternal negative emotions (defined as depressive symptoms or negative affect) were positively associated with levels of IL-6, -8, -10, −13 and −18 in the cord blood, as well as maternal levels of IL-6 and -8 ( Fransson et al., 2012 ).…”