Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Nov;60(7):753-764.
doi: 10.1002/dev.21773. Epub 2018 Aug 24.

Extending the developmental origins of disease model: Impact of preconception stress exposure on offspring neurodevelopment

Kate Keenan  1 , Alison E Hipwell  2 , Quetzal A Class  3 , Kimberley Mbayiwa  1
Affiliations
Review

Extending the developmental origins of disease model: Impact of preconception stress exposure on offspring neurodevelopment

Kate Keenan et al. Dev Psychobiol. 2018 Nov.

Abstract

The concept of the developmental origins of health and disease via prenatal programming has informed many etiologic models of health and development. Extensive experimental research in non-human animal models has revealed the impact of in utero exposure to stress on fetal development and neurodevelopment later in life. Stress exposure, however, is unlikely to occur de novo following conception, and pregnancy health is not independent of the health of the system prior to conception. For these reasons, the preconception period is emerging as an important new focus for research on adverse birth outcomes and offspring neurodevelopment. In this review, we summarize the existing evidence for the role of preconception stress exposure on pregnancy health and offspring neurodevelopment across species and discuss the implications of this model for addressing health disparities in obstetrics and offspring outcomes.

Keywords: neurodevelopment; offspring; preconception; prenatal; stress.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

References

    1. Atherton K, Fuller E, Shepherd P, Strachan DP, Power C (2008). Loss and representativeness in a biomedical survey at age 45 years: 1958 British birth cohort. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 62, 216–223. - PubMed
    1. Baird J, Hill CM, Kendrick T, Inskip HM, Group SS. (2009). Infant sleep disturbance is associated with preconceptional psychological distress: findings from the Southampton Women’s Survey. Sleep, 32, 566–568. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barker DJ. (1995). Intrauterine programming of adult disease. Molecular Medicine Today, 1, 418–423. - PubMed
    1. Barker DJ. (2003). Editorial: the developmental origins of adult disease. European Journal of Epidemiology, 18, 733–736. - PubMed
    1. Beatty DL, Matthews KA. (2009). Unfair treatment and trait anger in relation to nighttime ambulatory blood pressure in African American and white adolescents. Psychosomatic Medicine, 71, 813. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types