Associations between maternal adversity and health and children’s telomere length

Abstract

Maternal adversity (e.g., adverse childhood experiences, ACEs) and health (e.g., depressive symptoms and chronic illness) negatively impact offspring’s health. One possible mechanism is via premature/accelerated biological aging, as indicated in telomere length. In this 3-year longitudinal study, we examined the association between maternal adversity and health and children’s buccal telomere length (bTL) at age 3. Data from 122 mother-child dyads were analyzed. Maternal history of ACEs and chronic illness were collected at baseline (during 20–24 weeks of gestation). Their depressive symptoms across three periods (during pregnancy, 4 weeks after childbirth, and 3 years after childbirth) were also collected. Children’s TL were extracted from their buccal swab samples at age 3. The children’s bTL was quantified using the quantitative PCR method and expressed in T/S ratio (the ratio of telomere repeats copy numbers to single-copy gene numbers). Results showed pregnant women experienced distinctive trajectories of depressive symptoms over time. Children of mothers with relapsing/remitting depressive symptoms had shorter bTL (β = −0.19, 95% CI = −0.14 to −0.005) than mothers who had low-stable symptoms. This finding remained significant even after accounting for maternal ACEs and chronic illness. Additionally, maternal ACEs, together with depressive symptoms, may affect children’s bTL. This study provides relatively comprehensive evidence on the effects of maternal stressors, highlighting the relevance of maternal adversity and depressive symptom patterns as predictors of offspring telomere biology.