Stress May Cut Pregnancy Short - Texas Journal of Chiropractic

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Stress May Cut Pregnancy Short

Published 12/15/2011 - 3:33 p.m. CDT

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Medpagetoday.com REPORTS HERE that "Major stress early in a pregnancy may increase the chances of preterm delivery, researchers found."

"In a study of Chilean women pregnant during a major earthquake, those who were in their second or third month of pregnancy had shorter pregnancies and an increased likelihood of delivering before 37 weeks' gestation."

"The relationships were much stronger when the offspring were females rather than males, for whom the associations were not statistically significant, the researchers reported online in Human Reproduction."

"Previous studies have suggested that exposure to acute stress during pregnancy can shorten pregnancy duration and reduce the proportion of male births."

"The researchers examined data on women living in the affected area during the earthquake and those living in the affected area one year before the earthquake happened. There was also information on pregnant women living in areas not affected by the earthquake."

"The length of pregnancy was reduced and the odds of delivery preterm were increased for women living in the affected area during the earthquake who were in their second and third months of pregnancy, although the findings were statistically significant for female offspring only."

"Among female offspring, the length of gestation was shortened by 0.31 and 0.28 weeks when the mother was in the second or third month of pregnancy, respectively, during the earthquake. The rate of preterm birth went up by an absolute 3.8% if exposure occurred in month three and to 3.9% if exposure occurred in month two."

"There were no such changes among pregnant women living in unaffected parts of Chile.
After running a simulation to account for the sex-specific effect on gestational duration, the researchers found a 5.8% decline in the proportion of male births associated with exposure to the earthquake during the third month of pregnancy."

"Researchers have hypothesized that a decrease in gestational length after early prenatal stress might be triggered by a spike in maternal cortisol secondary to acute stress," they wrote. "Higher levels of maternal cortisol early in the pregnancy are known to stimulate placental production of corticotrophin-releasing hormone in the early third trimester, which is, in turn, predictive of an increased risk for preterm birth."

The placenta may be at the center of the sex-specific findings, as well.

"The female placenta may be more responsive to maternal stress, signaled by increased maternal levels of glucocorticoids, than the male placenta," the authors wrote, adding that more studies are needed to confirm that idea.

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