Qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde (QVRS) materna: relação com comprimento relativo dos telômeros da mãe e do neonato

Abstract

Pregnancy induces physiological and psychosocial changes that can significantly affect both maternal health and newborn (NB) development. Telomeres — DNA-protein structures located at the ends of chromosomes — play a crucial role in genetic stability and protection against cellular aging. Evidence suggests that adverse conditions during pregnancy, such as stress, inflammation, and harmful lifestyle habits, may influence maternal health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and be associated with telomere shortening. The primary objective of this study was to describe sociodemographic, behavioral, health, and clinical characteristics, as well as to analyze the relative telomere length of maternal and newborn cells and its association with the HRQoL of postpartum women. A cross-sectional study was conducted at the maternity unit of Hospital Regional do Oeste (Chapecó, Santa Catarina, Brazil) between June 2024 and November 2025. Data collection included sociodemographic questionnaires, obstetric history, the EQ-5D-5L instrument with the Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS) for self-rated health assessment, and oral mucosa swab sampling for telomere analysis by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), expressed as the T/S ratio. Statistical analyses were performed using PSPP software, adopting a 5% significance level. A total of 131 mother-newborn dyads were included. Among the mothers, 78.6% were aged between 20 and 34 years, and 38.2% had low educational attainment. Smoking during pregnancy was reported by 11.5% of participants, alcohol consumption by 7.8%, and 19.1% reported maintaining physical activity during pregnancy. Regarding HRQoL, 74% of women reported high HRQoL perception prior to pregnancy, whereas 26% reported the same scores in the last trimester of pregnancy; 0.8% reported scores worse than death. In the EQ-VAS assessment, 30.5% of women rated their health as excellent before pregnancy, compared with 19.8% during the last trimester of pregnancy. With respect to telomere length, the median maternal T/S ratio was 0.65, while the median newborn T/S ratio was 2.11. No statistically significant associations were observed between maternal and newborn telomere length and HRQoL in the evaluated periods — pre-pregnancy and the last trimester of pregnancy (p > 0.05). These findings indicate a decline in perceived health during the last trimester of pregnancy and suggest that maternal factors may influence newborn telomere biology, although no statistically significant associations were identified in this sample. The results highlight the need for longitudinal follow-up and larger sample sizes to further investigate epigenetic mechanisms related to cellular aging processes during pregnancy.