Prenatal Stress Alters Cytokine Levels in a Manner That May Endanger Human Pregnancy

Coussons-Read, Mary; Okun, Michele L.; Schmitt, Mischel P; Giese, Scott

doi:10.1097/01.psy.0000170331.74960.ad

Cited by 222 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 56 publications

(58 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

105

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…[35][36][37] Systemic inflammation during pregnancy may lead to premature rupture of membranes, preterm labor, and ultimately PTD. 35,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] Therefore, systemic inflammation may be the pathway by which perceived neighborhood safety and depressive symptoms impact PTD. Future research needs to examine the impact of systemic inflammation on the relationships among perceived neighborhood safety, depressive symptoms, and PTD.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neighborhood Context and Preterm Delivery among African American Women: the Mediating Role of Psychosocial Factors

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Preterm delivery (PTD), or birth before 37 completed weeks of gestation, is a serious public health issue, and racial disparities persist. In a recently published study, perceptions of the residential environment (or neighborhood context) were associated with PTD rates among urban African American women with low educational attainment (≤12 years); however, the mechanisms of these associations are unknown. Given this gap in the literature, we used data from the Life Influences on Fetal Environments Study of postpartum African American women from Metropolitan Detroit, Michigan (2009Michigan ( -2011 n = 399), to examine whether psychosocial factors (depressive symptomology, psychological distress, and perceived stress) mediate associations between perceptions of the neighborhood context and PTD. Validated scales were used to measure women's perceptions of their neighborhood safety, walkability, healthy food availability (higher=better), and social disorder (higher=more disorder). The psychosocial indicators were measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, Kessler's Psychological Distress Scale (K6), and Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale. Statistical mediation was assessed using an unadjusted logistic regression-based path analysis for estimating direct and indirect effects. The associations between perceived walkability, food availability, and social disorder were not mediated by psychosocial factors. However, perceptions of neighborhood safety were inversely associated with depressive symptoms which were positively associated with PTD rates. Also, higher perceived neighborhood social disorder was associated with higher PTD rates, net of the indirect paths through psychosocial factors. Future research should identify other mechanisms of the perceived neighborhood context-PTD associations, which would inform PTD prevention efforts among high-risk groups.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neighborhood Context and Preterm Delivery among African American Women: the Mediating Role of Psychosocial Factors

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Coussons-Read et al (2005) study suggests that mothers' prenatal stress can alter pregnancy and infant outcome via alterations of the immune system. But there is still little empirical evidence on the role that stress induced by violence and conflict plays on the physical development of the child (Camacho, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of the War in Iraq on Nutrition and Health: An Analysis Using Anthropometric Outcomes of Children

Serdan

2009

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The war in Iraq initiated in March 2003 triggered a wave of violence and turmoil in the country, exposing households to insecurity and to instability in daily life. The level of violence has varied across provinces, the south and centre areas being the most affected. Using the different intensities of the conflict across areas and the age at exposure to the war among cohorts, I analyze a possible causal effect of the war on nutritional outcomes of children. I use two empirical strategies, leading to very similar results. Estimates indicate that children born in areas affected by high levels of violence are 0.8 cm shorter than children born in low violence provinces. These results are robust to several specifications. Furthermore, the paper also addresses the channels through which the conflict has affected health and nutrition. The results have not only short-term policy implications, but also, given the empirical evidence of the impact of early child malnutrition on later education, labour and productivity outcomes, the results are of great importance for the future. JEL: I10, J10, O15

show abstract

“…Stress appears to induce inflammatory processes in pregnancy (Coussons-Read et al 2005), a factor in preterm birth (Goldenberg, Hauth, and Andrews 2000). Stress hormones also appear to be associated with immunosuppression, which in turn increases the risk of infection (Coussons-Read et al 2005;Elenkov et al 1999).…”

Section: Stress and Birth Outcomes: Pathways Timing And Proximate Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Hidden Costs of War: Exposure to Armed Conflict and Birth Outcomes

Torche¹,

Shwed²

2015

SocScience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Research suggests that prenatal exposure to environmental stressors has negative effects after birth. However, capturing causal effects is difficult because exposed women may be selected on unobserved factors. We use the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war as a natural experiment and a siblings fixed-effects methodology to address unobserved selectivity by comparing exposed and unexposed births of the same mother. Findings indicate that exposure to war in early and mid-pregnancy lowers birth weight and increases the probability of low birth weight. The effect is not driven by geographic sorting, migration, or increased miscarriages. Given that birth weight predicts health, developmental, and socioeconomic outcomes, prenatal exposure to acute stress may have long-term effects over the life course.

show abstract

Prenatal Stress Alters Cytokine Levels in a Manner That May Endanger Human Pregnancy

Abstract: These findings provide initial support for our hypothesis that stress-related neural immune interactions may contribute to pregnancy complications and poor outcome, but require further study to determine the mechanism and significance of these effects.

Cited by 222 publications

References 56 publications

Neighborhood Context and Preterm Delivery among African American Women: the Mediating Role of Psychosocial Factors

Neighborhood Context and Preterm Delivery among African American Women: the Mediating Role of Psychosocial Factors

The Effects of the War in Iraq on Nutrition and Health: An Analysis Using Anthropometric Outcomes of Children

The Hidden Costs of War: Exposure to Armed Conflict and Birth Outcomes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About