Graduation Year

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.A.

Degree Granting Department

Anthropology

Major Professor

Lorena Madrigal

Keywords

birth-term, birth-weight, Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD), epigenetic fetal-programming, ponderal index, psychosocial stress

Abstract

Puerto Rico has the highest prevalence of type 2 diabetes, low birth-weight, and the second highest prevalence of preterm-birth in all the U.S. and its non-incorporated territories. These conditions are related. Birth-weight at both ends of the spectrum and preterm-birth are associated with an increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes and immune-inflammatory dysregulations. Maternal psychosocial stressors during pregnancy have also been recognized as potential risk factors for type 2 diabetes, and have been consistently associated with preterm-birth and low birth-weight across populations. Current evidence points toward epigenetic fetal metabolic-programming as the mechanism that underlies the increased risk for the previously mentioned morbidities. However, the particular psychosocial stressors that may contribute to the high prevalence of low birth-weight and preterm-birth in the population of Puerto Rico have not been well studied.

The present study assesses the relationships between particular psychosocial stressors, socioeconomic status, food insecurity, and birth outcomes. The results of this study show that low-risk pregnancy women were more likely to have babies with a higher ponderal index if they were exposed to stressors during gestation months 5, 6, and 7, or if exposed to "relationship stress" at any time during pregnancy. Women exposed to "financial difficulties" at any time during pregnancy were more likely to deliver babies at an earlier gestational age. Differences in birth outcomes between the exposed and non-exposed women were independent of maternal anthropometric measurements, maternal age at birth, number of previous births, and sex of the baby. Significant differences in birth outcomes were found between categories of father's self-identified and identified by others ethnicity, but sample size within categories was small. Although mothers with children at home had higher levels of food insecurity, and the level of food insecurity was correlated with higher levels of stress, no birth outcome measure was associated with food insecurity.

Some results are atypical in comparison with other populations, and therefore these findings may contribute to the understanding of population differences in the relationship between maternal stress during pregnancy and birth outcomes. The relatively small sample size and strict exclusion criteria of this study may limit the generalizability of the findings. Epidemiological similarities between Puerto Rico and other populations, and the possibility of a higher ponderal index increasing the risk for type 2 diabetes in the population of Puerto Rico need to be examined in future research.

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