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Uric acid levels during pregnancy have been examined as a potential indicator of risk for gestational diabetes mellites, hypertension, and related adverse birth outcomes. However, evidence supporting the utility of serum uric acid levels in predicting poor maternal and fetal health has been mixed. The lack of consistent findings may be due to limitations inherent in serum-based biomeasure evaluations, such as minimal repeated assessments and variability in the timing of these assessments. To address these gaps, we examined repeated measurements of diurnal salivary uric acid (sUA) levels in a sample of 44 healthy women across early-mid and late pregnancy. We assessed potential covariates and confounds of sUA levels and diurnal trajectories, as well as associations between maternal weight gain and blood pressure during pregnancy and sUA concentrations. Using multilevel linear models, we found sUA increased across pregnancy and displayed a robust diurnal pattern with the highest concentrations at waking, a steep decline in the early morning, and decreasing levels across the day. Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, age, prior-night sleep duration, and fetal sex were associated with sUA levels and/or diurnal slopes. Maternal blood pressure and gestational weight gain also showed significant associations with sUA levels across pregnancy. Our results expand upon those found with serum UA measurements. Further, they demonstrate the feasibility of using at-home, minimally-invasive saliva sampling procedures to track UA levels across pregnancy with potential applications for the long-term monitoring of maternal cardiometabolic risk.

The development of biological markers of aging has primarily focused on adult samples. Epigenetic clocks are a promising tool for measuring biological age that show impressive accuracy across most tissues and age ranges. In adults, deviations from the DNA methylation (DNAm) age prediction are correlated with several age-related phenotypes, such as mortality and frailty. In children, however, fewer such associations have been made, possibly because DNAm changes are more dynamic in pediatric populations as compared to adults. To address this gap, we aimed to develop a highly accurate, noninvasive, biological measure of age specific to pediatric samples using buccal epithelial cell DNAm. We gathered 1,721 genome-wide DNAm profiles from 11 different cohorts of typically developing individuals aged 0 to 20 y old. Elastic net penalized regression was used to select 94 CpG sites from a training dataset (n = 1,032), with performance assessed in a separate test dataset (n = 689). DNAm at these 94 CpG sites was highly predictive of age in the test cohort (median absolute error = 0.35 y). The Pediatric-Buccal-Epigenetic (PedBE) clock was characterized in additional cohorts, showcasing the accuracy in longitudinal data, the performance in nonbuccal tissues and adult age ranges, and the association with obstetric outcomes. The PedBE tool for measuring biological age in children might help in understanding the environmental and contextual factors that shape the DNA methylome during child development, and how it, in turn, might relate to child health and disease.

ObjectivePreterm birth (PTB) is a prevalent public health concern. Pregnancy anxiety, poor sleep quality, and short sleep duration have been associated with an increased risk of PTB. Theoretically, sleep variables could moderate the strength of the relationship between pregnancy anxiety and PTB; investigating this question was the primary aim of this study.MethodThe sample consisted of 290 pregnant women who were assessed at 2 time points in pregnancy: Time 1 (< 22 weeks gestational age [GA]; MGA = 15.04, SD = 3.55) and Time 2 (32 weeks GA; MGA = 32.44, SD = 0.99). Pregnancy anxiety was assessed with the Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Scale, sleep quality was assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and sleep duration was assessed via actigraphy. Data on gestational age at birth were obtained from the electronic medical record.ResultsAfter adjustment for relevant covariates, higher levels of pregnancy anxiety were associated with shorter gestational length and an increased risk of PTB. There were no direct associations between sleep quality or sleep duration and gestational length or PTB. Pregnancy anxiety interacted with sleep duration such that pregnancy anxiety was significantly associated with shorter gestational length and PTB only when women had relatively shorter sleep duration (approximately < 8.3 hr).ConclusionsThis study reveals new evidence of an interaction between pregnancy anxiety and sleep duration in the prediction of the timing of delivery. The findings point to avenues to better understand and potentially ameliorate risk for PTB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Maternal gestational obesity is related to risk of obesity in the child. This risk may be in part mediated by altered child temperament, which can affect mother–child interactions, including feeding and soothing behaviors that affect obesity risk. Our objective was to examine the association between maternal pre‐pregnancy BMI and child zBMI and determine if child temperament, specifically positive Affectivity/Surgency, mediates this association. Using conditional process modeling, we analyzed data from 408 mother–child dyads enrolled in the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition (APrON) study. Child temperament was assessed at 3 years of age via a parent report measure, the Child Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ), and child zBMI was calculated from in‐person measurements of child height and weight at 4–5 years of age. Bivariate correlations showed that there was a significant positive correlation between zBMI and Surgency (r = 0.11, p = 0.03), and zBMI was also correlated with maternal pre‐pregnancy BMI (r = 0.12, p = 0.02). Multivariable regression revealed that maternal pre‐pregnancy BMI (adjusted β = 0.15, 95% confidence interval [CI]; 0.00–0.05, p = 0.02) and Surgency scores (adjusted β = 0.14, 95% CI; 0.02–0.28, p = 0.03) were associated with higher child zBMI at 4–5 years of age. Mediation analysis showed that Surgency mediated the association between pre‐pregnancy BMI and child zBMI. Our models controlled for maternal gestational weight gain, gestational diabetes, socioeconomic status, maternal anxiety and depression, and gestational age at birth. Overall, maternal pre‐pregnancy BMI was positively associated with child zBMI, and this association was mediated by higher child Surgency scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined whether prenatal exposure to two classes of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) was associated with infant epigenetic age acceleration (EAA), a DNA methylation biomarker of aging. Participants included 224 maternal–infant pairs from a Canadian pregnancy cohort study. Two bisphenols and 12 phthalate metabolites were measured in maternal second trimester urines. Buccal epithelial cell cheek swabs were collected from 3 month old infants and DNA methylation was profiled using the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip. The Pediatric-Buccal-Epigenetic tool was used to estimate EAA. Sex-stratified robust regressions examined individual chemical associations with EAA, and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) examined chemical mixture effects. Adjusted robust models showed that in female infants, prenatal exposure to total bisphenol A (BPA) was positively associated with EAA (B = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.21, 1.24), and multiple phthalate metabolites were inversely associated with EAA (Bs from −0.36 to −0.66, 95% CIs from −1.28 to −0.02). BKMR showed that prenatal BPA was the most important chemical in the mixture and was positively associated with EAA in both sexes. No overall chemical mixture effects or male-specific associations were noted. These findings indicate that prenatal EDC exposures are associated with sex-specific deviations in biological aging, which may have lasting implications for child health and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic and countermeasures implemented by governments around the world have led to dramatically increased symptoms of depression and anxiety. Pregnant individuals may be particularly vulnerable to the negative psychological effects of COVID-19 public health measures because they represent a demographic that is most affected by disasters and because pregnancy itself entails significant life changes that require major psychosocial and emotional adjustments. ObjectiveThe PdP study was designed to investigate the associations among exposure to objective hardship caused by the pandemic, perceived stress and psychological distress in pregnant individuals, and developmental outcomes in their offspring. MethodsThe PdP study comprises a prospective longitudinal cohort of individuals who were pregnant at enrollment, with repeated follow-ups during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Participants were eligible if they were pregnant, ≥17 years old, at ≤35 weeks of gestation at study enrollment, living in Canada, and able to read and write in English or French. At enrollment, participants completed an initial survey that assessed demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, previous pregnancies and births, prepregnancy health, health conditions during pregnancy, medications, psychological distress, social support, and hardships experienced because of the COVID-19 pandemic (eg, lost employment or a loved one dying). For the first three months following the initial survey, participants received a monthly email link to complete a follow-up survey that asked about their experiences since the previous survey. After three months, follow-up surveys were sent every other month to reduce participant burden. For each of these surveys, participants were first asked if they were still pregnant and then routed either to the next prenatal survey or to the delivery survey. In the postpartum period, surveys were sent at 3, 6, and 12 months of infant age to assess maternal stress, psychological distress, and infant development. ResultsParticipant recruitment via social media (Facebook and Instagram) began on April 5, 2020, and is ongoing. As of April 2021, more than 11,000 individuals have started the initial survey. Follow-up data collection is ongoing. ConclusionsThis longitudinal investigation seeks to elucidate the associations among hardships, maternal psychological distress, child development during the COVID-19 pandemic, and risk and resilience factors that amplify or ameliorate these associations. The findings of this study are intended to generate knowledge about the psychological consequences of pandemics on pregnant individuals and point toward prevention and intervention targets. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/25407

Emotion regulation is essential to cognitive, social, and emotional development and difficulties with emotion regulation portend future socioemotional, academic, and behavioral difficulties. There is growing awareness that many developmental outcomes previously thought to begin their development in the postnatal period have their origins in the prenatal period. Thus, there is a need to integrate evidence of prenatal influences within established postnatal factors, such as infant temperament and maternal sensitivity. In the current study, prenatal depression, pregnancy anxiety, and diurnal cortisol patterns (i.e., the cortisol awakening response (CAR) and diurnal slope) were assessed in 254 relatively low-risk mother-infant pairs (primarily White, middle-class) in early (M= 15 weeks) and late pregnancy (M= 33 weeks). Mothers reported on infant temperamental negativity (Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised) at 3 months. At 6 months, maternal sensitivity (Parent Child Interaction Teaching Scale) and infant emotion regulation behavior (Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery) were assessed. Greater pregnancy anxiety in early pregnancy and a blunted CAR in late pregnancy predicted higher infant temperamental negativity at 3 months, and those infants with higher temperamental negativity used fewer attentional regulation strategies and more avoidance (i.e., escape behavior) at 6 months. Furthermore, this indirect effect was moderated by maternal sensitivity whereby infants with elevated negativity demonstrated maladaptive emotion regulation at below average levels of maternal sensitivity. These findings suggest that the development of infant emotion regulation is influenced by the ways that prenatal exposures shape infant temperament and is further modified by postnatal caregiving.

This study examined the associations between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain (GWG) and children's neuropsychological outcomes at 3 to 5 years of age. A total of 379 women and their children from the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition (APrON) study participated. Covariate-adjusted robust regressions examined associations between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, GWG class, interaction terms, and child outcomes. Each unit increase in maternal BMI was linked to a 0.48-point decrement (95% CI: −0.75 to −0.21) in children's Full Scale IQ. Higher pre-pregnancy BMI was related to poorer performance on the other intelligence indexes (B = −0.35 to −0.47, 95% CIs: −0.75, −0.02) and lower performance on measures of language (B = −0.08 to −0.09, 95% CIs: −0.16, −0.02), motor skills (B = −0.08 to −0.11, 95% CIs: −0.18, −0.01), and executive function (B = −0.09 to −0.16, 95% CIs: −0.26, −0.01). GWG below the recommended range was associated with a 4.04-point decrement (95% CI: 7.89, −0.11) in Full Scale IQ, but better performance on a spatial working memory test (B = 0.27, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.52). GWG above the recommended range was associated with lower language (B = −0.79, 95% CI: −1.52, −0.06) and memory scores (B = −0.93, 95% CI: −1.64, −0.22). Interactions were found between pre-pregnancy BMI and GWG on measures of intelligence and executive function. Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and GWG are related to children's performance in various neuropsychological domains and may interact to predict outcomes. Optimizing maternal health and weight prior to conception and during pregnancy may enhance children's neuropsychological outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]