Mercury and psychosocial stress exposure interact to predict maternal diurnal cortisol during pregnancy
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Date
2015
Author(s)
Schreier, Hannah MC
Hsu, Hsiao-Hsien
Amarasiriwardena, Chitra
Schnaas, Lourdes
Téllez-Rojo, Martha María
Tamayo y Ortiz, Marcela
Wright, Rosalind J
Wright, Robert O
Publisher
BioMed Central
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Citation
Schreier, Hannah MC, Hsiao-Hsien Hsu, Chitra Amarasiriwardena, Brent A Coull, Lourdes Schnaas, Martha María Téllez-Rojo, Marcela Tamayo y Ortiz, Rosalind J Wright, and Robert O Wright. 2015. “Mercury and psychosocial stress exposure interact to predict maternal diurnal cortisol during pregnancy.” Environmental Health 14 (1): 28. doi:10.1186/s12940-015-0016-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12940-015-0016-9.
Abstract
Background: Disrupted maternal prenatal cortisol production influences offspring development. Factors influencing the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis include social (e.g., stressful life events) and physical/chemical (e.g., toxic metals) pollutants. Mercury (Hg) is a common contaminant of fish and exposure is widespread in the US. No prior study has examined the joint associations of stress and mercury with maternal cortisol profiles in pregnancy. Objectives: To investigate potential synergistic influences of prenatal stress and Hg exposures on diurnal cortisol in pregnant women. Methods: Analyses included 732 women (aged 27.4 ± 5.6 years) from a Mexico City pregnancy cohort. Participants collected saliva samples on two consecutive days (mean 19.52 ± 3.00 weeks gestation) and reported life stressors over the past 6 months. Hg was assessed in toe nail clippings collected during pregnancy. Results: There were no main effects of Hg or psychosocial stress exposure on diurnal cortisol (ps > .20) but strong evidence of interaction effects on cortisol slope (interaction B = .006, SE = .003, p = .034) and cortisol at times 1 and 2 (interaction B = -.071, SE = .028, p = .013; B = -.078, SE = .032, p = .014). Women above the median for Hg and psychosocial stress exposure experienced a blunted morning cortisol response compared to women exposed to higher stress but lower Hg levels. Conclusions: Social and physical environmental factors interact to alter aspects of maternal diurnal cortisol during pregnancy. Research focusing solely on either domain may miss synergistic influences with potentially important consequences to the offspring.
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