Infant buccal telomere length: associations with maternal distress in pregnancy and offspring temperament

Introduction: Telomere length is considered a marker of biological aging, and is shown to be susceptible to exposures during gestational and early life, including maternal psychological distress, and to be connected with temperament. Here, we examine the influence of maternal psychosocial and work-related factors on infant telomere length, and how infant telomere length is associated with infant and preschooler temperament.

Methods: 147 mothers and their offspring from the Dutch Prenatal Early Life Stress (PELS) cohort participated in this study. Psychological distress and work-related factors were assessed with the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS), Effort-Reward Imbalance, Questionnaire on the Experience and Evaluation of Work (QEEW), and Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) questionnaires at 16–23 gestational weeks. Offspring temperament was evaluated twice: first at median 4 (IQR: 3-5) months using the Infant’s Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ-R, very short form) and again at 4 years of age using the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ-R, very short form). Multivariable adjusted linear regression models were used to test associations between maternal psychosocial and work-related factors in pregnancy, infant buccal telomere length at 3–5 months after birth and infant and preschooler temperament, adjusting for maternal age, BMI, and education, and offspring age and sex.

Results: The PELS participants generally presented with low mental distress levels, with 9.5% of the participants having severe state anxiety scores and 5.4% of the participants having severe depression symptoms. Maternal STAI and EDS scores showed a positive correlation with preschooler negative affectivity. Maternal psychosocial and work-related factors exhibited no discernible associations with infant buccal telomere length (p’s ≥ 0.11). Additionally, infant buccal telomere length was not associated with offspring temperament. However, after adjusting for work-related stressors, social satisfaction showed a trend for significance on infant telomere length, with a 4.2% (95% CI: −0.31 to 8.76, p = 0.070) longer telomere length per 1 unit higher score in social satisfaction.

Conclusion: Higher satisfaction with social life may have a positive impact on infant telomere length. Mild maternal stress during pregnancy does not seem to affect infant telomere length, nor is telomere length predictive of infancy and early childhood temperament.