Prenatal risk factors are related to poor health and developmental outcomes for infants, potentially via epigenetic mechanisms. We tested associations between person-centered prenatal risk profiles, cumulative prenatal risk models, and epigenome-wide DNA methylation (DNAm) in very preterm neonates. We studied 542 infants from a multi-center study of infants born < 30 weeks postmenstrual age. We assessed 24 prenatal risk factors via maternal report and medical record review. Latent class analysis was used to define prenatal risk profiles. DNAm was quantified from neonatal buccal cells using the Illumina MethylationEPIC Beadarray. We identified three latent profiles of women: a group with few risk factors (61%) and groups with elevated physical (26%) and psychological (13%) risk factors. Neonates born to women in higher risk subgroups had differential DNAm at 2 CpG sites. Higher cumulative prenatal risk was associated with methylation at 15 CpG sites, 12 of which were located in genes previously linked to physical and mental health and neurodevelopment. We observed associations between prenatal risk factors and DNAm in very preterm infants using both person-centered and cumulative risk approaches. Epigenetics offers a potential biological indicator of prenatal risk exposure.

中文翻译：

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极早产儿的产前危险因素和新生儿 DNA 甲基化

产前风险因素可能通过表观遗传机制与婴儿的健康状况不佳和发育结果有关。我们在非常早产的新生儿中测试了以人为中心的产前风险概况、累积产前风险模型和表观基因组范围内的 DNA 甲基化 (DNAm) 之间的关联。我们对 542 名婴儿进行了多中心研究，这些婴儿的出生年龄小于 30 周。我们通过产妇报告和医疗记录审查评估了 24 个产前危险因素。潜在类别分析用于定义产前风险概况。使用 Illumina MethylationEPIC Beadarray 从新生儿口腔细胞中定量 DNAm。我们确定了女性的三种潜在特征：一组风险因素很少 (61%)，一组身体 (26%) 和心理 (13%) 风险因素升高。高风险亚组女性所生的新生儿在 2 个 CpG 位点具有差异 DNAm。更高的累积产前风险与 15 个 CpG 位点的甲基化相关，其中 12 个位于先前与身心健康和神经发育相关的基因中。我们使用以人为本和累积风险方法观察了极早产儿的产前风险因素与 DNAm 之间的关联。表观遗传学提供了产前风险暴露的潜在生物学指标。