Relationships between Prenatal Distress and Infant Body Mass Index in the First Year of Life in a Lower-Middle Income Country

Ann-Sophie Therrien, Giovanna Buffa, Amanda B. Roome, Elizabeth Standard, Alysa Pomer, Jimmy Obed, George Taleo, Len Tarivonda, Chim W. Chan, Akira Kaneko, Kathryn M. Olszowy and Kelsey N. Dancause
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Ann-Sophie Therrien: Department of Physical Activity Sciences, University of Quebec in Montreal, Montreal, QC H2X 1Y4, Canada
Giovanna Buffa: Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA
Amanda B. Roome: Bassett Research Institute, Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, Cooperstown, NY 13326, USA
Elizabeth Standard: Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA
Alysa Pomer: Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
Jimmy Obed: Ministry of Health, Port Vila PMB 9009, Republic of Vanuatu
George Taleo: Ministry of Health, Port Vila PMB 9009, Republic of Vanuatu
Len Tarivonda: Ministry of Health, Port Vila PMB 9009, Republic of Vanuatu
Chim W. Chan: Department of Parasitology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka 545-8585, Japan
Akira Kaneko: Department of Parasitology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka 545-8585, Japan
Kathryn M. Olszowy: Department of Anthropology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA
Kelsey N. Dancause: Department of Physical Activity Sciences, University of Quebec in Montreal, Montreal, QC H2X 1Y4, Canada

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 19, 1-8

Abstract: Prenatal stress affects body composition in childhood and later in life. However, few studies assess body composition in infancy. Furthermore, most are in high-income countries and do not consider interactive or curvilinear relationships. We assessed distress and diet during pregnancy via questionnaires among 310 women in Vanuatu, a lower-middle income country. We measured body mass index (BMI) among 54 infants at 4–12 months of age. We analyzed interactive relationships between prenatal distress and diet with BMI Z-scores, and curvilinear relationships between distress and BMI Z-scores. There were no direct linear or interactive relationships between prenatal distress or diet with BMI Z-scores. We observed curvilinear relationships between prenatal distress and BMI Z-scores ( p = 0.008), explaining 13.3 percent of unique variance. Results highlight that relationships between prenatal stress and body composition are evident in infancy but might not be detected if only linear relationships are assessed. Analyses in more diverse samples might help to explain inconsistencies in past studies.

Keywords: mental health; maternal and child health; body composition; obesity; reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (RMNCAH); developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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