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

项目总结 新冠肺炎大流行的社会后果是前所未有的。国际社会一直在 由于突发公共卫生事件对健康和经济造成了有害影响， 这一点还有待确定。由于目前的危机，孕妇和新妈妈 目前正经历着医疗、财政和社会支持的急剧丧失，导致更高的 精神上的痛苦。众所周知，慢性应激可以嵌入到发育中的神经生物学中 系统，特别是在生命的敏感期，但母亲应激源和途径的时机 这些经历对儿童神经行为发育的影响尚不清楚。中心目标 这项建议的目的是研究围产期新冠肺炎应激与出生后纵向应激之间的关系 大脑发育，并严格评估暴露的时机、潜在的生物机制和 产后保护因素。我们将从纽约市(NYC)新冠肺炎招募300名妇女和儿童 将围产期经历(COP)队列纳入将测量儿童生物行为的纵向方案 12个月、24个月和36个月的结局。COPE队列由900多名女性组成，她们 在疫情高峰期加入纵向评估方案，其中约一半 怀孕(54%)，其中一半是新妈妈(46%)。这项计划的主要目的是：(I) 确定围产期应激脆弱性的关键窗口；(2)评估作为关联基础的生物途径 母亲新冠肺炎应激源与婴儿神经认知之间的关系；以及(Iii)分离婴儿的保护因素 出生后环境，促进暴露在极端围产期应激下的儿童的弹性结果。我们会 根据暴露时间、严重程度和严重程度之间的平衡，有选择地招募本研究建议的亚样本 压力源和社会人口学因素。因此，我们将能够有意义地评估生物学 控制时间和总风险的围产期应激的后果。这样的工作将构成 我们对母体围产期应激对早产的纵向影响的理解取得了实质性进展 并将为促进儿童的健康结果提供潜在的途径 出生在历史上最重要的围产期应激源的高峰期。

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.