At the forefront of psychoneuroimmunology in pregnancy: Implications for racial disparities in birth outcomes PART 1: Behavioral risks factors.
Birth prior to full term is a substantial public health issue. In the US, ˜400,000 babies per year are born preterm (<37 weeks), while>1 million are early term (37-386/7 weeks). Birth prior to full term confers risk both immediate and long term, including neonatal intensive care, decrements in school performance, and increased mortality risk from infancy through young adulthood. Risk for low birth weight and preterm birth are 1.5-2 times greater among African Americans versus Whites. Psychosocial stress related to being a member of a discriminated racial minority group contributes substantially to these racial disparities. Providing promising targets for intervention, depressed mood, anxiety, and poor sleep are each linked with exposure to chronic stress, including racial discrimination. A rigorous transdisciplinary approach addressing these gaps holds great promise for clinical impact in addressing racial disparities as well as ameliorating effects of stress on perinatal health more broadly. As will be reviewed in a companion paper, the mechanistic roles of physiological sequelae to stress - including neuroendocrine, inflammatory regulation, biological aging, and the microbiome - also require delineation.
['Christian|Lisa M|LM|']
D000328:Adult D001741:African Americans D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007223:Infant D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight D007231:Infant, Newborn D011247:Pregnancy D011256:Pregnancy Outcome D047928:Premature Birth D011598:Psychoneuroimmunology D044465:Whites D055815:Young Adult
Psychoneuroimmunology Pregnancy Racial disparities Birth outcomes Stress Depression Anxiety Sleep