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The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting public health directives led to many changes in families' social and material environments. Prior research suggests that these changes are likely to impact composition of the gut microbiome, particularly during early childhood when the gut microbiome is developing most rapidly. Importantly, disruption to the gut microbiome during this sensitive period can have potentially long-lasting impacts on health and development. In the current study, we compare gut microbiome composition among a socioeconomically and racially diverse group of 12-month old infants living in New York City who provided stool samples before the pandemic (N = 34) to a group who provided samples during the first 9-months of the pandemic (March–December 2020; N = 20). We found that infants sampled during the pandemic had lower alpha diversity of the microbiome, lower abundance of Pasteurellaceae and Haemophilus, and significantly different beta diversity based on unweighted Unifrac distance than infants sampled before the pandemic. Exploratory analyses suggest that gut microbiome changes due to the pandemic occurred relatively quickly after the start of the pandemic and were sustained. Our results provide evidence that pandemic-related environmental disruptions had an impact on community-level taxonomic diversity of the developing gut microbiome, as well as abundance of specific members of the gut bacterial community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Of Review: We review the state of the literature examining associations between early life stress (ELS), gut microbiota, and neurocognitive development and mental health in animals and humans. We identify gaps in current models and areas for future research.Recent Findings: ELS is associated with changes in gut microbiota, which correspond to changes in affective and cognitive functioning in both animals and humans. Some of these ELS-induced psychological changes can be remedied by supplementation with probiotics in early life, suggesting a potential area for intervention for ELS-exposed children. Prenatal stress exposure is rarely studied in humans in relation to gut microbiota, but animal work has suggested important associations between prenatal stress and fetal programming that should be tested in humans. The gut microbiota plays an important role in the association between ELS, neurocognitive development, and mental health. More work is needed to fully understand these associations in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Pregnancy is a sensitive period of development in adult life characterized by massive changes in physical, emotional, and cognitive function. Such changes may be adaptive, e.g., facilitating adjustment to physical demands, but they may also reflect or contribute to risks inherent to this stage of life, e.g., prenatal depression. One cognitive ability that may undergo change during pregnancy and contribute to mental wellness is interoception - the ability to perceive, integrate, and model sensory information originating from the body. Strong interoceptive abilities are associated with lower rates of depression in non-pregnant adult populations, and interoception is generally weaker in individuals at higher risk for depression, for example, exposure to early life adversity (ELA). In the present online, cross-sectional study, we investigated whether interoception in pregnant women differed based on histories of ELA, in ways that increased their relative risk for prenatal depression symptoms.The pregnant individuals were in the second trimester of their first pregnancy and were compared to a group of nulliparous, non-parenting women.Previous exposure to ELA significantly moderated pregnancy-related differences in self-reported interoception (interoceptive sensibility). A further moderated-mediation analysis revealed that the extent to which interoceptive sensibility buffered against depressive symptoms was conditional on ELA exposure, suggesting more ELA is associated with lower interoceptive sensibility during pregnancy, which increased prenatal depression risk.Together this work suggests that levels of interoception during pregnancy are sensitive to previous adversity exposure. It also suggests that interoceptive-focused interventions for preventing/treating prenatal depressive symptoms in high-risk women may be worth exploring.Methods: Pregnancy is a sensitive period of development in adult life characterized by massive changes in physical, emotional, and cognitive function. Such changes may be adaptive, e.g., facilitating adjustment to physical demands, but they may also reflect or contribute to risks inherent to this stage of life, e.g., prenatal depression. One cognitive ability that may undergo change during pregnancy and contribute to mental wellness is interoception - the ability to perceive, integrate, and model sensory information originating from the body. Strong interoceptive abilities are associated with lower rates of depression in non-pregnant adult populations, and interoception is generally weaker in individuals at higher risk for depression, for example, exposure to early life adversity (ELA). In the present online, cross-sectional study, we investigated whether interoception in pregnant women differed based on histories of ELA, in ways that increased their relative risk for prenatal depression symptoms.The pregnant individuals were in the second trimester of their first pregnancy and were compared to a group of nulliparous, non-parenting women.Previous exposure to ELA significantly moderated pregnancy-related differences in self-reported interoception (interoceptive sensibility). A further moderated-mediation analysis revealed that the extent to which interoceptive sensibility buffered against depressive symptoms was conditional on ELA exposure, suggesting more ELA is associated with lower interoceptive sensibility during pregnancy, which increased prenatal depression risk.Together this work suggests that levels of interoception during pregnancy are sensitive to previous adversity exposure. It also suggests that interoceptive-focused interventions for preventing/treating prenatal depressive symptoms in high-risk women may be worth exploring.Results: Pregnancy is a sensitive period of development in adult life characterized by massive changes in physical, emotional, and cognitive function. Such changes may be adaptive, e.g., facilitating adjustment to physical demands, but they may also reflect or contribute to risks inherent to this stage of life, e.g., prenatal depression. One cognitive ability that may undergo change during pregnancy and contribute to mental wellness is interoception - the ability to perceive, integrate, and model sensory information originating from the body. Strong interoceptive abilities are associated with lower rates of depression in non-pregnant adult populations, and interoception is generally weaker in individuals at higher risk for depression, for example, exposure to early life adversity (ELA). In the present online, cross-sectional study, we investigated whether interoception in pregnant women differed based on histories of ELA, in ways that increased their relative risk for prenatal depression symptoms.The pregnant individuals were in the second trimester of their first pregnancy and were compared to a group of nulliparous, non-parenting women.Previous exposure to ELA significantly moderated pregnancy-related differences in self-reported interoception (interoceptive sensibility). A further moderated-mediation analysis revealed that the extent to which interoceptive sensibility buffered against depressive symptoms was conditional on ELA exposure, suggesting more ELA is associated with lower interoceptive sensibility during pregnancy, which increased prenatal depression risk.Together this work suggests that levels of interoception during pregnancy are sensitive to previous adversity exposure. It also suggests that interoceptive-focused interventions for preventing/treating prenatal depressive symptoms in high-risk women may be worth exploring.Conclusions: Pregnancy is a sensitive period of development in adult life characterized by massive changes in physical, emotional, and cognitive function. Such changes may be adaptive, e.g., facilitating adjustment to physical demands, but they may also reflect or contribute to risks inherent to this stage of life, e.g., prenatal depression. One cognitive ability that may undergo change during pregnancy and contribute to mental wellness is interoception - the ability to perceive, integrate, and model sensory information originating from the body. Strong interoceptive abilities are associated with lower rates of depression in non-pregnant adult populations, and interoception is generally weaker in individuals at higher risk for depression, for example, exposure to early life adversity (ELA). In the present online, cross-sectional study, we investigated whether interoception in pregnant women differed based on histories of ELA, in ways that increased their relative risk for prenatal depression symptoms.The pregnant individuals were in the second trimester of their first pregnancy and were compared to a group of nulliparous, non-parenting women.Previous exposure to ELA significantly moderated pregnancy-related differences in self-reported interoception (interoceptive sensibility). A further moderated-mediation analysis revealed that the extent to which interoceptive sensibility buffered against depressive symptoms was conditional on ELA exposure, suggesting more ELA is associated with lower interoceptive sensibility during pregnancy, which increased prenatal depression risk.Together this work suggests that levels of interoception during pregnancy are sensitive to previous adversity exposure. It also suggests that interoceptive-focused interventions for preventing/treating prenatal depressive symptoms in high-risk women may be worth exploring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]