New research brings light to how detrimental maternal stress can be on placental health during pregnancy.
Researchers at the Developing Brain Institute at Children’s National Hospital have now linked increased maternal stress reported during COVID to changes in their placental volume, texture and structure on MRI. In comparison, a group of healthy controls without a history of anxiety, depression and/or increased maternal distress who underwent the same examinations did not display placental alterations.
Experts involved in the study cautioned that these findings warrant serious consideration by physicians caring for pregnant women in the future, as the link between poor mental health—whether due to COVID or not—and placental development remains “underappreciated.”
“During the pandemic, mothers were exposed to a litany of negative stressors including social distancing, fear of dying, financial insecurity and more,” said Catherine Limperopoulos, PhD, chief and director of the Developing Brain Institute in Washington, D.C. “We now know that this vital organ was changed for many mothers, and it’s essential that we continue to investigate the impact this may have had on children who were born during this global public health crisis.”
None of the 63 pregnant women included in the analysis had any known exposure to COVID, but they did become pregnant during the pandemic. Their MRI exams were compared to those of 165 healthy controls who were pregnant prior to March 2020.
Each group of women completed questionnaires relative to stress and depression during their pregnancy. Not surprisingly, the group of women who were pregnant during the pandemic reported significantly higher rates of stress compared to the control group.
Those who reported increased stress also displayed several placental alterations on imaging, including increased volume, thickness, gray level kurtosis, skewness and run-length non-uniformity. Experts also noted a decrease in placental elongation, mean gray level and long-run emphasis in the pandemic group.
The findings suggest that maternal stress does, in fact, affect placental development, the consequences of which are not yet completely understood.
“We are continuing to follow up on these mother-baby dyads to determine the long-term functional significance of these placental changes in utero,” Limperopoulos said.
The study is available to view in Scientific Reports.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She joined Innovate Healthcare in 2021 and has since put her unique expertise to use in her editorial role with Health Imaging.