Association between Maternal Depression during Pregnancy and Newborn DNA Methylation Open Access

Drzymalla, Emily (Spring 2021)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/0r967486w?locale=en%5D
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Abstract

Around 15% to 65% of women globally experience depression during pregnancy with higher prevalence in low- and middle-income countries than high income countries. Prenatal depression has been associated with adverse birth and child development outcomes. DNA methylation (DNAm) may aid in understanding this association. In this project, we analyzed associations between prenatal depression and DNAm from cord blood from participants of the South African Drakenstein Child Health Study. We examined DNAm in an epigenome wide association study (EWAS) of 248 mother child pairs. DNAm was measured using the Infinium MethylationEPIC (EPIC, N=145) and the Infinium HumanMethylation450 (450K, N=103) arrays. Prenatal depression scores, obtained with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS, range: 0-30) and the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II, range: 0-63), were analyzed as continuous and dichotomized variables. We used linear robust models to estimate associations between depression and newborn DNAm, adjusted for measured confounders (smoking status, household income, sex, preterm birth, cell type proportions, and genetic principal components) and unmeasured confounding using Cate and Bacon algorithms. DMRcate was used to test for differentially methylated regions (DMRs). For the EPDS score, differential DNAm in cg22798925 (beta per EPDS total IQR = 0.0066, p = 1.06 x 10-7) was significant after Bonferroni correction. For dichotomized BDI-II thresholds, differential DNAm in cg04859497 (beta = -0.064, p = 8.09 x 10-10) and cg27278221 (beta = -0.020, p =5.40 x 10-8) were significant (only available on EPIC). Eight DMRs were associated with at least two depression scales. Further studies are needed to replicate these findings and investigate their biological impact.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………..1

Materials and Methods ………………………………………………………………………….2

Results …………………………………………………………………………………………..5

Discussion ………………………………………………………………………………………7

References ………………………………………………………………………………………14

Web Resources ………………………………………………………………………………….20

Table …………………………………………………………………………………………….21

Figures …………………………………………………………………………………………..24

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Association between Maternal Depression during Pregnancy and Newborn DNA Methylation () 2021-05-01 12:04:02 -0400

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