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Maternal perceived stress and the increased risk of preterm birth in a majority non-Hispanic Black pregnancy cohort

Journal of Perinatology volume 42, pages 708–713 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

To determine whether perceived stress is associated with preterm birth (PTB) and to investigate racial differences in stress and PTB.

Study design

A secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study of 1911 women with singleton pregnancies examined responses to psychosocial stress questionnaires at 16–20 weeks of gestation.

Results

High perceived stress (19%) and PTB (10.8%) were prevalent in our sample (62% non-Hispanic Black). Women with PTB were more likely to be Black, have chronic hypertension (cHTN), pregestational diabetes, and higher BMI. Women with high perceived stress had more PTBs than those with lower stress (15.2% vs. 9.8%), and stress was associated with higher odds of PTB (aOR: 1.55, 95% CI: 1.09–2.19).

Conclusion

The significant association between high perceived stress and PTB suggests that prenatal interventions to reduce maternal stress could improve the mental health of pregnant women and may result in reduced rates of PTB.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Sara L. Kornfield

  2. Maternal and Child Health Research Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Valerie M. Riis, Clare McCarthy, Michal A. Elovitz & Heather H. Burris

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Heather H. Burris

  4. Division of Neonatology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Heather H. Burris

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  1. Sara L. Kornfield
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  4. Michal A. Elovitz
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Contributions

SLK: conceptualization, writing—original draft, review, and editing. VMR: data curation, investigation, project administration, and writing—original draft. CM: formal analysis, investigation, and methodology. MAE: conceptualization, funding acquisition, project administration, resources, supervision, writing—review and editing. HHB: conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Sara L. Kornfield.

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Kornfield, S.L., Riis, V.M., McCarthy, C. et al. Maternal perceived stress and the increased risk of preterm birth in a majority non-Hispanic Black pregnancy cohort. J Perinatol 42, 708–713 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-021-01186-4

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