Every Child Succeeds
Featured Research

DNA Methylation May Serve as Biomarker for Maternal Stress Passed to Children

Published October 2021 | BMC Pediatrics

Developmental delays affect more than 10% of school-age children in the United States and are increasing in prevalence. Children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families have an even higher risk for impaired cognitive and social-emotional development.

Experts often attribute the gap to adversity factors such as violence, relocation, food insecurity, or maternal depression. More recently, research indicates that some factors, such as maternal stress, can cause epigenetic changes that affect brain development. To further measure this potential intergenerational effect, the PRegnancy and Infant DEvelopment (PRIDE) pilot study included more than 50 mothers and their infants who were already participating in Every Child Succeeds—a home-visiting intervention program for at-risk families. The team found that maternal depression, perceived stress, and overall distress during pregnancy were associated with child internalizing and externalizing behaviors at 24 and 36 months.

The team, led by Katherine Bowers, PhD, MPH, Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, and Alonzo “Ted” Folger, PhD, MS, director of evaluation and epidemiologic research for Every Child Succeeds, also collected cheek swabs to conduct DNA methylation analyses, which may serve as a biomarker of stress-related developmental delay risk. DNA methylation results were not specified in this paper.

Now researchers plan to follow up the pilot study with a 400-family longitudinal cohort study funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. This larger study will collect data from pregnant women and their infants at 1, 4, 12, and 18 months.

“If we can identify the type and timing by which adversity (and protective factors) affect development, services can be targeted to best support families,” Bowers says. “Through our partnership with Every Child Succeeds, we are uniquely positioned to translate findings from this research through precision home visiting and additional strategies.”