Associations between social, biologic, and behavioral factors and biomarkers of oxidative stress during pregnancy: Findings from four ECHO cohorts

Stephanie M Eick; Sarah Dee Geiger; Akram Alshawabkeh; Max Aung; Emily Barrett; Nicole R Bush; José F Cordero; Kelly K Ferguson; John D Meeker; Ginger L Milne; Ruby H N Nguyen; Amy M Padula; Sheela Sathyanarayana; Barrett M Welch; Susan L Schantz; Tracey J Woodruff; Rachel Morello-Frosch; Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155596

Associations between social, biologic, and behavioral factors and biomarkers of oxidative stress during pregnancy: Findings from four ECHO cohorts

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Aug 20:835:155596. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155596. Epub 2022 Apr 29.

Authors

Stephanie M Eick¹, Sarah Dee Geiger², Akram Alshawabkeh³, Max Aung⁴, Emily Barrett⁵, Nicole R Bush⁶, José F Cordero⁷, Kelly K Ferguson⁸, John D Meeker⁹, Ginger L Milne¹⁰, Ruby H N Nguyen¹¹, Amy M Padula¹², Sheela Sathyanarayana¹³, Barrett M Welch⁸, Susan L Schantz¹⁴, Tracey J Woodruff¹², Rachel Morello-Frosch¹⁵; Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes

Affiliations

¹ Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA; Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA.
³ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
⁴ Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁵ Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Rutgers School of Public Health, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
⁷ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30606, USA.
⁸ Epidemiology Branch, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Durham, NC 27709, USA.
⁹ Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
¹⁰ Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
¹¹ Division of Epidemiology & Community Health, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA.
¹² Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
¹³ Department of Pediatrics, Seattle Children's Research Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹⁴ Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA; Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61802, USA.
¹⁵ Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA; Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

Abstract

Background: Lower socioeconomic status (SES) and elevated psychosocial stress are known contributors to adverse pregnancy outcomes; however, biological mechanisms linking these factors to adverse pregnancy outcomes are not well-characterized. Oxidative stress may be an important, yet understudied mechanistic pathway. We used a pooled study design to examine biological, behavioral, and social factors as predictors of prenatal oxidative stress biomarkers.

Methods: Leveraging four pregnancy cohorts from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program spanning multiple geographic regions across the United States (U.S.) (N = 2082), we measured biomarkers of oxidative stress in urine samples at up to three time points during pregnancy, including 8-isoprostane-prostaglandin F_2α (8-isoPGF_2α), its major metabolite, 2,3-dinor-5,6-dihydro-15-F_2t-isoprostane, and prostaglandin F_2α (PGF_2α). Maternal age, pre-pregnancy body mass index, marital/partnered status, parity, and smoking status were included as biological and behavioral factors while race/ethnicity, maternal education, and stressful life events were considered social factors. We examined associations between each individual biological, behavioral, and social factor with oxidative stress biomarkers using multivariable-adjusted linear mixed models.

Results: Numerous biological, behavioral, and social factors were associated with elevated levels of 8-isoPGF_2α, its major metabolite, and PGF_2α. Pregnant people who were current smokers relative to non-smokers or had less than a high school education relative to a college degree had 11.04% (95% confidence interval [CI] = -1.97%, 25.77%) and 9.13% (95% CI = -1.02%, 20.32%) higher levels of 8-isoPGF_2α, respectively.

Conclusions: Oxidative stress biomarkers are elevated among pregnant people with higher socioeconomic disadvantage and may represent one pathway linking biological, behavioral, and social factors to adverse pregnancy and child health outcomes, which should be explored in future work.

Keywords: Isoprostane; Oxidative stress; Pregnancy; Social determinants.

MeSH terms

Biological Products*
Biomarkers / metabolism
Child
Female
Humans
Isoprostanes
Oxidation-Reduction
Oxidative Stress*
Pregnancy
Vereinigte Staaten

Substances

Biological Products
Biomarkers
Isoprostanes

Abstract

MeSH terms

Substances

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