First name
Rosalind
Middle name
J
Last name
Wright

Title

Spatially and Temporally Resolved Ambient PM in Relation to Preterm Birth.

Year of Publication

2021

Number of Pages

Date Published

2021 Dec 14

ISSN Number

2305-6304

Abstract

<p>Growing evidence suggests that maternal exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM) during pregnancy is associated with preterm birth; however, few studies have examined critical windows of exposure, which can help elucidate underlying biologic mechanisms and inform public health messaging for limiting exposure. Participants included 891 mother-newborn pairs enrolled in a U.S.-based pregnancy cohort study. Daily residential PM concentrations at a 1 × 1 km resolution were estimated using a satellite-based hybrid model. Gestational age at birth was abstracted from electronic medical records and preterm birth (PTB) was defined as &lt;37 completed weeks of gestation. We used Critical Window Variable Selection to examine weekly PM exposure in relation to the odds of PTB and examined sex-specific associations using stratified models. The mean ± standard deviation PM level averaged across pregnancy was 8.13 ± 1.10 µg/m. PM exposure was not associated with an increased odds of PTB during any gestational week. In sex-stratified models, we observed a marginal increase in the odds of PTB with exposure occurring during gestational week 16 among female infants only. This study does not provide strong evidence supporting an association between weekly exposure to PM and preterm birth.</p>

DOI

10.3390/toxics9120352

Alternate Title

Toxics

PMID

34941786
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Title

Prenatal Stress, Methylation in Inflammation-Related Genes, and Adiposity Measures in Early Childhood: the Programming Research in Obesity, Growth Environment and Social Stress Cohort Study.

Year of Publication

2018

Number of Pages

34-41

Date Published

2018 01

ISSN Number

1534-7796

Abstract

<p><strong>OBJECTIVE: </strong>Maternal stress during pregnancy may influence childhood growth and adiposity, possibly through immune/inflammatory programming. We investigated whether exposure to prenatal stress and methylation in inflammation-related genes were associated with childhood adiposity in 424 mother-child pairs in Mexico City, Mexico.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>A stress index was created based on four prenatally administered stress-related scales (Exposure to Violence, Crisis in Family Systems, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale). We measured weight, height, body fat mass (BFM), percentage body fat (PBF), and waist circumference in early childhood (age range, 4-6 years). Body mass index (BMI) z scores were calculated according to World Health Organization standards. DNA methylation in gene promoters of tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin 8, and interleukin 6 (IL6) in umbilical cord blood were determined by pyrosequencing.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>An interquartile range increase in stress index (27.3) was associated with decreases of 0.14 unit in BMI z score (95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.28 to -0.005), 5.6% in BFM (95% CI = -9.7 to -1.4), 3.5% in PBF (95% CI = -6.3 to -0.5), and 1.2% in waist circumference (95% CI = -2.4 to -0.04) in multivariable-adjusted models. An interquartile range increase in IL6 methylation (3.9%) was associated with increases of 0.23 unit in BMI z score (95% CI = 0.06-0.40), 8.1% (95% CI = 2.3-14.3) in BFM, 5.5% (95% CI = 1.7-9.5) in PBF, and 1.7% (95% CI = 0.2-3.3) in waist circumference.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Prenatal stress was associated with decreased childhood adiposity, whereas cord blood IL6 methylation was associated with increased childhood adiposity in Mexican children.</p>

DOI

10.1097/PSY.0000000000000517

Alternate Title

Psychosom Med

PMID

28787364
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Title

Prenatal salivary sex hormone levels and birth-weight-for-gestational age.

Year of Publication

2019

Number of Pages

Date Published

2019 May 20

ISSN Number

1476-5543

Abstract

<p><strong>OBJECTIVE: </strong>To determine whether prenatal sex hormones from maternal saliva are associated with birth-weight-for-gestational age.</p>

<p><strong>STUDY DESIGN: </strong>We measured salivary progesterone, testosterone, estradiol, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and cortisone in 504 pregnant women in a Mexico City cohort. We performed linear and modified Poisson regression to examine associations of log-transformed hormones with birth-weight-for-gestational age z-scores and the risk of small-for-gestational age (SGA) and large-for-gestational age (LGA) adjusting for maternal age, sex, BMI, parity, smoking, education, and socioeconomic status.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>In total, 15% of infants were SGA and 2% were LGA. Each interquartile range increment in testosterone/estradiol ratio was associated with a 0.12 decrement in birth-weight-for-gestational age z-score (95% CI: -0.27 to -0.02) and a 50% higher risk of SGA versus appropriate-for-gestational age (AGA) (95% CI: 1.13-1.99).</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>Higher salivary testosterone/estradiol ratios may affect fetal growth, and identifying the predictors of hormone levels may be important to optimizing fetal growth.</p>

DOI

10.1038/s41372-019-0385-y

Alternate Title

J Perinatol

PMID

31110244
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