Pregnant women with a history of child abuse or neglect experienced increased inflammation when exposed to mild stress compared to women without the same experiences, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers. Increased inflammation, in turn, was associated with greater numbers of complications during pregnancy and birth, including premature birth, according to the research team.
Inflammation is a biologically protective response: When a person gets sick or hurt, parts of the body become inflamed to stop the spread of disease or injury. Once the threat is resolved, inflammation recedes and the body returns to normal. However, inflammation sometimes persists over time, increasing the risks of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other health problems.
"Inflammation is not just a response to physical threats," said Heidemarie Laurent, Edna Bennett Pierce Professor of Compassion and Caring at Penn State and lead author of the study published in Developmental Psychobiology. "Inflammation can also be triggered by psychological stress, and people who were abused or neglected as children are at greater risk of excessive inflammation due to psychological stress. In this study, we wanted to see whether a path could be traced from childhood maltreatment to stress reactivity and then forward to pregnancy outcomes."
