Department of Psychology, University of Denver, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Denver, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, USA.
EBioMedicine. 2024 Nov;109:105384. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2024.105384. Epub 2024 Oct 30.
Poor prenatal maternal sleep is a pervasive, yet modifiable, health concern affecting maternal and foetal wellbeing. Experimental rodent studies demonstrate that prenatal maternal sleep deprivation affects offspring brain development and leads to adverse outcomes, including increased anxiety-like behaviour. We examined the relation between prenatal maternal sleep quality and neonatal white matter development and subsequent infant negative emotionality.
Participants included 116 mother-infant (53% female) dyads. Prenatal sleep quality was prospectively assessed three times during gestation (16, 29, and 35 gestational weeks) using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Neonatal white matter, as indexed by fractional anisotropy (FA), was assessed via diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Negative emotionality was measured via behavioural observation and maternal report when the infant was 6-months of age.
More prenatal sleep problems across pregnancy were associated with higher neonatal FA in the uncinate fasciculus (left: b = 0.20, p = .004; right: b = 0.15, p = .027). Higher neonatal uncinate FA was linked to infant negative emotionality, and uncinate FA partially mediated the association between prenatal maternal sleep and behavioural observation of infant negative emotionality.
Findings highlight prenatal sleep as an environmental signal that affects the developing neonatal brain and later infant negative emotionality.
National Institutes of Health (R01MH109662, R01HL155744, P50HD103573, K12AR084226, F32 Training fellowships MH125572, HL165844, MH106440, and diversity supplement R01HL155744-01S1).
不良的产前孕妇睡眠是一种普遍存在但可改变的健康问题，会影响母婴健康。实验性啮齿动物研究表明，产前孕妇睡眠剥夺会影响后代大脑发育，并导致不良后果，包括增加焦虑样行为。我们研究了产前孕妇睡眠质量与新生儿白质发育以及随后婴儿负性情绪之间的关系。
参与者包括 116 对母婴（53%为女性）。使用匹兹堡睡眠质量指数，前瞻性地在妊娠期间（16、29 和 35 孕周）评估三次孕妇睡眠质量。通过弥散加权磁共振成像评估新生儿白质，以各向异性分数（FA）为指标。在婴儿 6 个月大时，通过行为观察和母亲报告来测量负性情绪。
妊娠期间更多的产前睡眠问题与钩束 FA 升高相关（左侧：b=0.20，p=0.004；右侧：b=0.15，p=0.027）。较高的新生儿钩束 FA 与婴儿负性情绪有关，钩束 FA 部分介导了产前孕妇睡眠与婴儿行为观察负性情绪之间的关联。
研究结果强调了产前睡眠作为一种环境信号，会影响发育中的新生儿大脑，并进而影响婴儿的负性情绪。
美国国立卫生研究院（R01MH109662、R01HL155744、P50HD103573、K12AR084226、F32 培训奖学金 MH125572、HL165844、MH106440 和 R01HL155744-01S1 的多样性补充）。
