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Associations of Maternal Lifetime Trauma and Perinatal Traumatic Stress Symptoms With Infant Cardiorespiratory Reactivity to Psychological Challenge
OBJECTIVE: Trauma influences on perinatal maternal-child interactions may affect the organization of offspring physiological systems involved in health outcomes. This study used a novel advanced system recently adapted for infants to examine associations of maternal lifetime trauma and related psychological symptoms in the perinatal period with infant cardiorespiratory reactivity and behavioral distress in response to a laboratory stressor. METHODS: Mothers self-reported lifetime exposure to trauma, perinatal traumatic stress, and current symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Heart rate and indices of respiratory volume, timing, and thoraco-abdominal coordination were continuously recorded using a non-invasive respiratory inductance plethysmography device from 23 infants during the Still-Face Paradigm, a videotaped mother-infant dyadic assessment that included baseline, stressor, and recovery phases. Infant behavioral distress during the procedure was also assessed. RESULTS: Infants of mothers with low exposure to trauma and perinatal traumatic stress showed expected increases in behavioral distress and cardiorespiratory activation from baseline to stressor and decreases in these parameters from stressor to recovery. Infants of mothers exposed to multiple traumas and with elevated perinatal traumatic stress showed similar patterns of activation from baseline to stressor but failed to show decreases during recovery. These patterns were maintained after controlling for current maternal PTSD and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal lifetime trauma exposure and traumatic stress during the perinatal period were associated with disrupted infant cardiorespiratory regulation and behavioral distress during a stressor protocol. These results support the concept of perinatal programming and its potential role in physical and mental health outcomes