What is it about?

Though maternal stress and stress biology during pregnancy seem to play a major role in determining the initial, newborn setting of telomere length (TL), research in this area has not yet the examined the potential beneficial role of maternal psychological resilience. In a study population of 656 mother-child dyads, a resilience factor encompassing positivity and stress was created based on psychological questionnaires administered up to twelve times across pregnancy. Telomere length was measured from cord blood leukocytes extracted shortly after birth.

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Why is it important?

We found that greater maternal resilience during pregnancy was associated with significantly longer newborn TL. This is the first study to show that maternal psychological resilience seems to be biologically embedded and exert a protective effect on the developing fetus, with a lifelong impact on health and disease risk. These findings highlight the importance of supporting maternal mental health and wellbeing during pregnancy.

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This page is a summary of: Maternal Psychological Resilience During Pregnancy and Newborn Telomere Length: A Prospective Study, American Journal of Psychiatry, February 2021, American Psychiatric Association,
DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.19101003.
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