Comprimento relativo dos telômeros em puérperas e recém-nascidos e sua relação com estresse e ansiedade gestacional

Abstract

Introduction: Gestational changes, whether physiological, physical, or social, can increase stress and anxiety, which may affect the relative length of telomeres. Objective: To evaluate the relative length of telomeres in oral mucosa cells of puerperal women and newborns and to relate them to stress and anxiety during the gestational period. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted between June 2024 and June 2025 with puerperal women and newborns at the maternity ward of the Regional Hospital of the West, Chapecó/SC, and in the Molecular Biology Laboratories of the Federal University of Fronteira Sul (UFFS), campuses of Chapecó/SC and Passo Fundo/RS. Data were collected using a questionnaire prepared by the research team, followed by swab collection from the oral mucosa of the mother and child for the extraction of cellular samples. To calculate the relative telomere length, the ratio referring to the single-copy gene (T/S ratio) was used through Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Statistical analyses were performed using PSPP software, version 3.0, free distribution. The distribution of the outcome in relation to the independent variables was verified using Fisher’s Exact Test and Pearson’s ChiSquare Test, with an alpha error below 5%. Results: In the sample, composed of 131 puerperal women, the following stood out: age between 21 and 34 years (78.6%), with at least complete high school (61.8%), employed puerperal women (58.0%), and those who had a partner (89.3%). A diagnosis of stress before pregnancy was mentioned by 17.6% of participants and, during pregnancy, by 9.2%, while anxiety was 25.2% and 15.0%, before and after pregnancy, respectively. In the last three months of pregnancy, 26.0% presented high-intensity stress and 29.0% high-intensity anxiety. The median T/S ratio was 0.65 among puerperal women and 2.11 among newborns. Among those diagnosed with anxiety before pregnancy, 73.3% presented a T/S ratio ≤ 0.65. In newborns, telomere length showed a statistically significant difference in relation to maternal anxiety before (p = 0.009) and during pregnancy (p = 0.027). Conclusion: These findings suggest that the presence of maternal anxiety, both prior to and during pregnancy, may be related to greater telomeric shortening at birth.