Obstetrics and Gynecology Commons^™

Pregnancy Anxiety Predicts Shorter Gestation In Latina And Non-Latina White Women: The Role Of Placental Corticotrophin-Releasing Hormone, Isabel F. Ramos, Christine M. Guardino, Maxwell Mansolf, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman, Calvin J. Hobel, Christine Dunkel Schetter

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective

Previous research has shown that a woman’s anxiety about her pregnancy predicts gestational length. Placental corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) is a stress-responsive peptide proposed as a mechanism. We examined placental CRH as a physiological mediator of the association between pregnancy anxiety and gestational length in Latina and non-Latina White women to replicate evidence of associations between pregnancy anxiety, placental CRH and gestational length; to test whether placental CRH levels or changes mediate effects of pregnancy anxiety on gestational length; to examine ethnic differences in pregnancy anxiety, placental CRH, and gestational length; and to explore whether the effects of pregnancy anxiety …

Timing Of Fetal Exposure To Stress Hormones: Effects On Newborn Physical And Neuromuscular Maturation, Lauren M. Ellman, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Calvin J. Hobel, Aleksandra Chicz-Demet, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The purpose of the study was to determine the specific periods during pregnancy in which human fetal exposure to stress hormones affects newborn physical and neuromuscular maturation. Blood was collected from 158 women at 15, 19, 25, and 31 weeks' gestation. Levels of placental corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and maternal cortisol were determined from plasma. Newborns were evaluated with the New Ballard Maturation Score. Results indicated that increases in maternal cortisol at 15, 19, and 25 weeks and increases in placental CRH at 31 weeks were significantly associated with decreases in infant maturation among mates (even after con trolling for length …