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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter November 15, 2012

Prenatal maternal stress predicts cord-blood ferritin concentration

  • Rinat Armony-Sivan EMAIL logo , Shraga Aviner , Lutzy Cojocaru , Shlomo Fytlovitch , Dora Ben-Alon , Anat Eliassy , Harvey Babkoff , Betsy Lozoff and Eyal Anteby

Abstract

Aim: To examine the relationship between maternal stress in early pregnancy and cord-blood ferritin concentration.

Methods: The sample consisted of 140 pregnant women who lived in a region that was under rocket attack during a military operation (December 2008 to January 2009). Mothers in the stress group (n=63) were in their first trimester during this period. Mothers in the control group (n=77) became pregnant 4–5 months after the attacks ended. Maternal subjective stress was reported retrospectively. Cord-blood ferritin concentration was compared between stress and control groups, and was the dependent variable in a hierarchical multiple regression analysis.

Results: The mean cord-blood ferritin concentration was lower in the stress group compared to the control group (145.7±62.0 vs. 169.3±85.4 ng/mL, P<0.05). The cumulative distribution of cord-blood ferritin showed a shift to the left for the stress group. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that maternal subjective stress was a predictor for cord-blood ferritin concentration (hierarchical regression: β=–0.18, P<0.05), especially in the stress group (simple slope analysis: β=–0.32, P<0.01).

Conclusion: Maternal stress during the first trimester of pregnancy is associated with lower cord-blood ferritin concentration.


Corresponding author: Rinat Armony-Sivan, Department of Psychology Ashkelon Academic College, Ashkelon, 78109 Israel, Tel.: +972 86789273, Fax: +972 86789288

The authors stated that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this article.

We are grateful to the mothers who participated in the study; the midwives at Barzilai Medical Center for their contribution to recruitment; Galit Dror, Hila Harel, Michal Yacobi, and Mari Kushilavich for their contribution to recruitment and maternal interviewing; and Gurion Katani for his contribution to assessment of ferritin concentrations; the study was supported by Ashkelon Academic College and Barzilai Medical Center.

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Received: 2012-5-31
Accepted: 2012-10-16
Published Online: 2012-11-15
Published in Print: 2013-05-01

©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston

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