Women with impaired stress hormone before pregnancy have lower-birthweight babies

Before women even become pregnant, their biological profile may predict a lower-birthweight baby, a UCLA-led research team reports. Most people have a high level of cortisol — a hormone the body releases in response to stressful events (and also at other times) — when they get out of bed in the morning, and that level declines throughout the day. In some people, however, cortisol levels are low in the morning and decrease by a smaller-than-normal amount during the day. This pattern has been associated with progression of a variety of diseases, including atherosclerosis and cancer, as well as chronic stress and a history of trauma. The new study analyzed 142 women who were participating in a larger study that was conducted by the Community Child Health Network, which looked at how chronic stress affects new parents and their babies. The subjects were chosen for the UCLA-led research because they provided daily saliva samples, and because they became pregnant again during the CCHN study. The new research, which found that the women were likelier to give birth to lower-weight babies, is published online in the journal Health Psychology and is scheduled to appear in an upcoming print edition. It is the first evidence that maternal cortisol patterns before conception influence the weight of the baby. James Guardino Christine Guardino “We found that the same cortisol pattern that has been linked with chronic stress is associated with delivering a baby that weighs less at b...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news