Role of thyroid function in the intergenerational transmission of maternal childhood maltreatment effects
Developmental Neurobiology
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Final Report Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests that maternal exposure to childhood maltreatment can have intergenerational consequences for the development and health of the offspring. While an association between maternal childhood maltreatment history and child emotional and behavioral development is already more established, studies investigating the association between maternal childhood maltreatment and cognitive development are currently lacking. Furthermore, the time window(s) and mechanisms of such intergenerational transmission have yet to be clarified. Alterations in gestational thyroid biology may serve as one potential pathway of transmission with consequences for offspring cognitive development. Thus, the current project sought to investigate in a prospective, longitudinal cohort of 179 mother-child dyads whether maternal exposure to childhood maltreatment was associated with a higher risk for thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy and with lower performance in cognitive tasks in offspring at 1 and 2 years of age mediated by maternal thyroid function. Contrary to the hypothesis, no association was observed between maternal maltreatment exposure and concentrations of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) across pregnancy. Other markers of maternal thyroid function are not yet available for hypothesis testing. Maternal exposure to childhood maltreatment was, however, associated with performance in specific cognitive tasks. Specifically, higher severity of maltreatment exposure was related to lower sustained attention to non-social objects at 1 year of age. Furthermore, maternal TSH concentrations during pregnancy were inversely related to measures of attention from two behavioral tasks at 1 year of age as well as general cognitive abilities at 2 years of age, but not measures of encoding speed, recognition memory, and working memory. These findings are the first to provide initial evidence specifically for lower attentional capabilities among children of women with maltreatment exposures, which may precede certain forms of neurodevelopmental disorders previously associated with maternal adversity (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). While maternal thyroid function was also associated with cognitive performance in offspring, there is currently no evidence to suggest that maternal thyroid dysfunction acts as a mediating pathway between maternal maltreatment exposure and child cognitive development, however, hypothesis testing will continue with additional markers of maternal thyroid function. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the intergenerational consequences of childhood adversity may support the development of targeted interventions that prevent or counteract the cycle of transmission from one vulnerable generation to the next.
Publications
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Intergenerational Transmission of Parental Early Life Stress. Prenatal Stress and Child Development, 113-130. Springer International Publishing.
Moog, Nora K.; Wadhwa, Pathik D. & Buss, Claudia
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Transmission of the adverse consequences of childhood maltreatment across generations: Focus on gestational biology. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 215, 173372.
Moog, Nora K.; Heim, Christine M.; Entringer, Sonja; Simhan, Hyagriv N.; Wadhwa, Pathik D. & Buss, Claudia
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Intergenerational transmission of the effects of maternal exposure to childhood maltreatment in the USA: a retrospective cohort study. The Lancet Public Health, 8(3), e226-e237.
Moog, Nora K.; Cummings, Peter D.; Jackson, Kathryn L.; Aschner, Judy L.; Barrett, Emily S.; Bastain, Theresa M.; Blackwell, Courtney K.; Bosquet, Enlow Michelle; Breton, Carrie V.; Bush, Nicole R.; Deoni, Sean C. L.; Duarte, Cristiane S.; Ferrara, Assiamira; Grant, Torie L.; Hipwell, Alison E.; Jones, Kathryn; Leve, Leslie D.; Lovinsky-Desir, Stephanie; Miller, Richard K. ... & Buss, Claudia
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Molecular pathways in placental-fetal development and disruption. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 581, 112075.
Adibi, Jennifer J.; Zhao, Yaqi; Koistinen, Hannu; Mitchell, Rod T.; Barrett, Emily S.; Miller, Richard; O.'Connor, Thomas G.; Xun, Xiaoshuang; Liang, Hai-Wei; Birru, Rahel; Smith, Megan & Moog, Nora K.
