Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA.
Psychosocial Research Division, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, 6875 LaSalle Boulevard, Verdun, Quebec, Canada H4H 1R3.
Psychiatry Res. 2014 Oct 30;219(2):353-60. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2014.04.034. Epub 2014 May 10.
Research implicates prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) as a risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders; however few studies report PNMS effects on autism risk in offspring. We examined, prospectively, the degree to which objective and subjective elements of PNMS explained variance in autism-like traits among offspring, and tested moderating effects of sex and PNMS timing in utero. Subjects were 89 (46F/43M) children who were in utero during the 1998 Quebec Ice Storm. Soon after the storm, mothers completed questionnaires on objective exposure and subjective distress, and completed the Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) for their children at age 6½. ASSQ scores were higher among boys than girls. Greater objective and subjective PNMS predicted higher ASSQ independent of potential confounds. An objective-by-subjective interaction suggested that when subjective PNMS was high, objective PNMS had little effect; whereas when subjective PNMS was low, objective PNMS strongly affected ASSQ scores. A timing-by-objective stress interaction suggested objective stress significantly affected ASSQ in first-trimester exposed children, though less so with later exposure. The final regression explained 43% of variance in ASSQ scores; the main effect of sex and the sex-by-PNMS interactions were not significant. Findings may help elucidate neurodevelopmental origins of non-clinical autism-like traits from a dimensional perspective.
研究表明，产前母亲压力 (PNMS) 是神经发育障碍的一个风险因素；然而，很少有研究报告 PNMS 对后代自闭症风险的影响。我们前瞻性地研究了 PNMS 的客观和主观因素在多大程度上解释了后代自闭症样特征的差异，并测试了性别的调节作用和子宫内 PNMS 时间的调节作用。研究对象为 89 名（46 名女性/43 名男性）儿童，他们在 1998 年魁北克冰暴期间处于子宫内。冰暴后不久，母亲们完成了关于客观暴露和主观困扰的问卷，并在孩子 6 岁半时完成了自闭症谱系筛查问卷 (ASSQ)。ASSQ 得分男孩高于女孩。更高的客观和主观 PNMS 预测了更高的 ASSQ，独立于潜在的混杂因素。客观与主观的相互作用表明，当主观 PNMS 较高时，客观 PNMS 影响较小；而当主观 PNMS 较低时，客观 PNMS 强烈影响 ASSQ 得分。时间与客观压力的相互作用表明，客观压力显著影响了第一孕期暴露的儿童的 ASSQ，但后期暴露的影响较小。最终的回归解释了 ASSQ 得分 43%的方差；性别的主要效应和性别与 PNMS 相互作用不显著。这些发现可能有助于从维度角度阐明非临床自闭症样特征的神经发育起源。
