| Autor: |
Seth D. Maxwell, Alan S. Brown, Shannon K. Murphy, Lauren M. Ellman, Michaeline Bresnahan, Ezra Susser, Catherine Schaefer, Thomas B. Cooper, Evan M. Calvo |
| Jazyk: |
angličtina |
| Rok vydání: |
2019 |
| Předmět: |
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| Popis: |
BACKGROUND: Maternal stress during pregnancy has been repeatedly linked to increased risk for schizophrenia; however, no study has examined whether maternal cortisol during pregnancy is associated with risk for the disorder. This study aimed to determine whether higher maternal cortisol during pregnancy was associated with increased risk for schizophrenia and risk for an intermediate phenotype-decreased fetal growth-previously linked to higher prenatal cortisol and schizophrenia. Timing of exposure and fetal sex also were examined given previous findings indicating that these variables are important in fetal responses to cortisol. METHODS: Participants were 64 cases diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and 117 controls from a prospective birth cohort study. Maternal cortisol during pregnancy was determined from stored sera from each trimester and psychiatric diagnoses were assessed from offspring using semi-structured interviews and medical records review. RESULTS: Maternal cortisol during pregnancy was not associated with risk for offspring schizophrenia. There was a significant interaction between 3rd trimester cortisol and case status on birth weight, controlling for gestational age. Specifically, cases exposed to higher 3rd trimester cortisol had significantly decreased fetal growth compared to controls. In addition, these findings were restricted to male offspring. DISCUSSION: Our results indicate that higher prenatal cortisol is associated with an intermediate phenotype linked to schizophrenia, fetal growth, but only among male offspring who developed schizophrenia. These results are consistent with evidence suggesting that schizophrenia genes may disrupt placental functioning specifically for male fetuses, as well as findings indicating that males are more vulnerable to maternal cortisol during pregnancy. Finally, our results suggest that examining fetal sex and intermediate phenotypes may be important in understanding the mechanisms involved in prenatal contributors to schizophrenia. |
| Databáze: |
OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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