Prenatal maternal objective and subjective stress exposures and rapid infant weight gain
Short Summary: This study looked at how stress during pregnancy can affect a baby's weight gain. Authors found that moms who experienced more stressful events during pregnancy were more likely to have babies who gained weight too quickly in the first six months of life. These findings suggest that supporting pregnant people around stress may help prevent rapid weight gain in babies.
Scientific Abstract: Objectives: To evaluate the associations between 3 prenatal stress exposures and rapid infant weight gain. Study design: Participants were 162 maternal-child dyads drawn from a nonrandomized controlled trial evaluating a prenatal intervention for reducing women's stress and excessive gestational weight gain and subsequent longitudinal observational study of offspring outcomes. Participants were predominantly low-income and racial or ethnic minorities, and mothers were overweight or obese prepregnancy. Primary exposures were objective stress exposures (number of stressful life events) and subjective distress (maternal perceived stress and depressive symptoms) during pregnancy. The primary outcome was rapid infant weight gain from birth to 6 months, assessed via birth records and in-person anthropometry measurements. Results: In total, 28% of the sample (N = 40) met criteria for rapid infant weight gain. In adjusted models, exposure to prenatal stressful life events was associated with increased odds of rapid infant weight gain (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.07-1.83, P = .014). Neither prenatal perceived stress (OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.16-1.37, P = .17) nor depressive symptoms (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.76-1.03, P = .13) were significantly associated with rapid infant weight gain. Conclusions: Each additional stressful life event a woman experienced during pregnancy was associated with 40% greater odds of rapid infant weight gain. Future research should evaluate whether prenatal interventions that focus on reducing exposure to stressful events prevent rapid infant weight gain.
Authors: Felder JN, Epel E, Coccia M, Cordeiro A, Laraia B, Adler N, Coleman-Phox K, Bush NR.