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Neonatal Follow-up

NICU Follow Up and Neurodevelopment 3: Impact of the Prenatal Environment on Development and Outcomes

225 - DNA Methylation Signatures of Prenatal Socioeconomic Position and 36-month Neurodevelopmental Outcomes

Friday, April 28, 2023

5:15 PM – 7:15 PM ET

Poster Number: 225
Publication Number: 225.143

Meghna Rajaprakash, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States; Meredith Palmore, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, United States; Kelly Bakulski, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; Kristen Lyall, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Rebecca J.. Schmidt, University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, Davis, CA, United States; Craig J.. Newschaffer, Penn State College of Health and Human Development, University Park, PA, United States; Lisa A. Croen, Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Oakland, CA, United States; Irva Hertz-Picciotto, University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, Davis, CA, United States; Heather Volk, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States; Christine M. Ladd-Acosta, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States; M. Daniele Fallin, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA, United States

Presenting Author(s)

Meghna Rajaprakash, MD, MSc (she/her/hers)

Fellow
Kennedy Krieger Institute
Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Background:

Prenatal socioeconomic position (SEP), which reflects one’s material resources and social standing, is a strong predictor of neurodevelopmental outcomes. One important question is whether epigenetic signatures capturing prenatal SEP predict neurodevelopmental outcomes. Currently, many clinical studies lack SEP measures and those that do collect SEP data may be subject to reporting bias. Use of empiric signatures of prenatal SEP exposures, such as DNA methylation, can enable us to ask questions about SEP’s association with brain development.

Objective: To determine whether DNA methylation signature scores of prenatal socioeconomic position (SEP) in placenta and/or cord blood at birth predict neurodevelopmental outcomes at 36 months.

Design/Methods: Prenatal interviews were administered to pregnant women who were recruited from four Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI) study sites (Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco, Sacramento). A variable reflecting low SEP was created with coding=1 if any of three indicators were endorsed: maternal education= no degree, marital status=single, and insurance status=public, and 0 for none. We measured DNA methylation at 485,512 loci using the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip (Illumina, San Diego, CA) in 122 placenta and 163 cord blood biospecimens collected at birth. Methylation signature scores were computed from CpG sites based on external association studies with SEP, with higher scores reflecting lower SEP. At 36 months of age, 97 infants in the placental group and 127 infants in the cord sample group were assessed using the Mullen Scale of Early Learning. To examine associations between SEP, DNA methylation scores, and neurodevelopmental outcomes, we used multivariate regression models, adjusting for maternal age and race.

Results: A significant association between the methylation-based SEP composite scores in placenta and Mullen Expressive Language subscale scores (effect size = -2.8, p = 0.04) and Receptive Language subscale scores (effect size = -2.26, p = 0.04) at 36 months was observed. Methylation-based SEP composite scores in cord blood similarly was associated with Receptive Language subscale scores (effect size = -2.0, p = 0.04), adjusting for maternal age and race.

Conclusion(s): Our preliminary results suggest that DNA methylation signature scores reflecting prenatal SEP in placental tissue and cord blood predict language outcomes at 36 months of age.