Investigating neurobehavioral consequences of COVID-19 related stressors on maternal mental health and infant development

项目摘要 COVID-19大流行的社会后果是前所未有的。国际社会一直在 由于公共卫生紧急情况造成有害的健康和经济影响， 这还有待确定。由于目前的危机，孕妇和新妈妈 目前正在经历医疗，财政和社会支持的急剧损失，导致更高的发病率， 情绪困扰慢性应激可以嵌入发育中的神经生物学过程，这是公认的。 系统，特别是在敏感时期的生活，但如何产妇的压力源和途径的时间 这些经历是如何影响儿童神经行为发育的尚不清楚。中心目标 这项建议的目的是研究围产期COVID-19压力与纵向产后压力之间的关系。 大脑发育，并严格评估暴露的时间，潜在的生物机制， 产后保护因素我们将招募来自纽约市（NYC）COVID-19的300名妇女和儿童 围产期经验（科普）队列纳入纵向协议，将衡量儿童生物行为 12个月、24个月和36个月时的结局。科普队列由900多名女性组成， 在大流行高峰期参加了纵向评估方案，其中约一半 怀孕的妇女占54%，其中一半是新妈妈（46%）。该项目的主要目标是：（一） 确定围产期应激脆弱性的关键窗口;（ii）评估相关的生物学途径 母亲COVID-19压力源和婴儿神经认知之间的关系;以及（iii）隔离 产后环境，促进弹性结果的儿童暴露于极端围产期压力。我们将 根据暴露时间、严重程度、 压力源和社会人口因素。因此，我们将能够有意义地评估生物学 围产期压力的后果与控制时间和总风险。这项工作将构成 我们对母亲围产期应激对早期妊娠的纵向影响的理解有了实质性的进展， 人类大脑发育，也将为促进儿童健康提供潜在的途径 出生在历史上最重要的围产期压力源的高度。

PROJECT SUMMARY Societal consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are unprecedented. The global community has been crippled by a public health emergency that has had deleterious health and economic impacts, the scope of which has yet to be determined. As a result of the current crisis, pregnant women and new mothers are currently experiencing dramatic loss of medical, financial, and social support, resulting in higher rates of emotional distress. It is well established that chronic stress can be embedded in the developing neurobiological system, particularly during sensitive periods of life, but how the timing of maternal stressors and pathways through which these experiences impact child neurobehavioral development are unclear. The central objective of this proposal is to examine the association between perinatal COVID-19 stress and longitudinal postnatal brain development, and to rigorously evaluate timing of exposure, underlying biological mechanisms and postnatal protective factors. We will enroll 300 women and children from the New York City (NYC) COVID-19 Perinatal Experiences (COPE) cohort into a longitudinal protocol that will measure child biobehavioral outcomes at 12-, 24-, and 36-months. The COPE cohort is comprised of more than 900 women that were enrolled into a longitudinal assessment protocol at the height of the pandemic, approximately half of which were pregnant (54%) and half of which were new mothers (46%). The primary aims of this project are to (i) identify key windows of perinatal stress vulnerability; (ii) evaluate biological pathways that underlie associations between maternal COVID-19 stressors and infant neurocognition; and (iii) isolate protective factors in the postnatal environment that promote resilient outcomes in children exposed to extreme perinatal stress. We will selectively recruit the proposed subsample for this study based on balance of timing of exposure, severity of stressors, and sociodemographic factors. We will thus be able to meaningfully evaluate biological consequences of perinatal stress with control over both timing and aggregate risk. Such work would constitute a substantial advance in our understanding of the longitudinal effects of maternal perinatal stress on early human brain development and would also offer potential avenues for promoting healthy outcomes in children born at the height of history’s most significant perinatal stressor.