Intergenerational effects of maternal post-traumatic stress disorder on offspring epigenetic patterns and cortisol levels

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the association between maternal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during pregnancy and offspring DNA methylation and cortisol levels. Materials & methods: Blood genome-wide DNA methylation and cortisol was measured in the youngest child of 117 women who experienced sexual violence/torture during the Kosovo war. Results: Seventy-two percent of women had PTSD symptoms during pregnancy. Their children had higher cortisol levels and differential methylation at candidate genes (NR3C1, HTR3A and BNDF). No methylation differences reached epigenome-wide corrected significance levels. Conclusion: Identifying the biological processes whereby the negative effects of trauma are passed across generations and defining groups at high risk is a key step to breaking the intergenerational transmission of the effects of mental disorders.

Keywords::

• cortisol
• DNA methylation
• epigenetics
• intergenerational
• maternal stress
• offspring
• PTSD

Acknowledgments

The authors greatly appreciate all the children and their mothers who participated in the study. The authors would like to thank K Bjerre for her extensive and prompt input on database development and troubleshooting, and B Zamroni for assisting with initial data analysis. Special thanks go to IC Bygbjerg and J Modvig who helped with the initial conceptualization of the study. The authors also thank to PRG Christensen and MH Thøgersen for administrative support and guidance. Finally, authors are honored by the encouragement and generous support of HRH Countess of Wessex to continue our commitment to ‘Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative.’

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This study was funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office through the British Embassy in Pristina and the Danish Institute against Torture (Denmark). L Hjort is funded by the Danish Diabetes Academy supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. J Ryan is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council Research Leader Fellowship (grant no.: 1135727). The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Data sharing statement

Data are accessible from the first and senior authors on reasonable request.