(49) Postnatal Maternal Stress Is Associated with Altered Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Premature Infants

Background: During the prolonged hospitalization of their preterm infants, mothers undergo significant psychological distress, a risk factor for suboptimal infant neurodevelopment. Few studies have examined associations between postnatal maternal stress and early infant neurodevelopment using electroencephalography (EEG).

Objectives: We aimed to determine if maternal psychological distress was associated with differential infant neurodevelopment via EEG

Design/Methods: Maternal perceived stress was assessed using the State Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Survey in n=49 mother-infant dyads. Biological stress was evaluated through maternal evening saliva cortisol levels (n=23). Infant EEG was collected during the Mother-Stranger paradigm and processed using the APICE pipeline. All measures were collected at hospital discharge. Differences in the ERP components of P2, an early attention marker and negative slow wave (NSW), a marker for novelty detection and memory updating were assessed using linear regression analyses adjusted for infant gestational age, delivery mode, and sex.

Results: Infants of mothers with higher cortisol levels showed reduced NSW responses to novel stimuli (β: -0.0001, SE: 0.00002, p = 0.03) in unadjusted models only (Figure 1). In adjusted models, infants of mothers who met criteria for clinical anxiety had decreased latency to P2 when presented with familiar stimuli (β: -80.7, SE: 26.4, p< 0.01) (Figure 2).

Conclusions: Maternal postnatal psychological distress was associated with differential preterm infant neurodevelopment at hospital discharge. Perceived stress was associated with faster speed of processing to familiar stimuli, while biological stress was potentially associated with decreased sensitivity to novel stimuli. Continued research should further explore these observed relationships.