1. Maternal educational attainment in pregnancy and epigenome-wide DNA methylation changes in the offspring from birth until adolescence
- Author
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Choudhary, P., Monasso, G.S., Karhunen, V., Ronkainen, J., Mancano, G., Howe, C.G., Niu, Z., Zeng, X., Guan, W., Dou, J., Feinberg, J.I., Mordaunt, C., Pesce, G., Baïz, N., Alfano, R., Martens, D.S., Wang, C., Isaevska, E., Keikkala, E., Mustaniemi, S., Thio, C.H.L., Fraszczyk, E., Tobi, E.W., Starling, A.P., Cosin-Tomas, M., Urquiza, J., Röder, Stefan, Hoang, T.T., Page, C., Jima, D.D., House, J.S., Maguire, R.L., Ott, R., Pawlow, X., Sirignano, L., Zillich, L., Malmberg, A., Rauschert, S., Melton, P., Gong, T., Karlsson, R., Fore, R., Perng, W., Laubach, Z.M., Czamara, D., Sharp, G., Breton, C.V., Schisterman, E., Yeung, E., Mumford, S.L., Fallin, M.D., LaSalle, J.M., Schmidt, R.J., Bakulski, K.M., Annesi-Maesano, I., Heude, B., Nawrot, T.S., Plusquin, M., Ghantous, A., Herceg, Z., Nisticò, L., Vafeiadi, M., Kogevinas, M., Vääräsmäki, M., Kajantie, E., Snieder, H., Corpeleijn, E., Steegers-Theunissen, R.P.M., Yang, I.V., Dabelea, D., Fossati, S., Zenclussen, Ana Claudia, Herberth, Gunda, Magnus, M., Håberg, S.E., London, S.J., Munthe-Kaas, M.C., Murphy, S.K., Hoyo, C., Ziegler, A.-G., Hummel, S., Witt, S.H., Streit, F., Frank, J., Räikkönen, K., Lahti, J., Huang, R.-C., Almqvist, C., Hivert, M.-F., Jaddoe, V.W.V., Järvelin, M.-R., Kantomaa, M., Felix, J.F., Sebert, S., Choudhary, P., Monasso, G.S., Karhunen, V., Ronkainen, J., Mancano, G., Howe, C.G., Niu, Z., Zeng, X., Guan, W., Dou, J., Feinberg, J.I., Mordaunt, C., Pesce, G., Baïz, N., Alfano, R., Martens, D.S., Wang, C., Isaevska, E., Keikkala, E., Mustaniemi, S., Thio, C.H.L., Fraszczyk, E., Tobi, E.W., Starling, A.P., Cosin-Tomas, M., Urquiza, J., Röder, Stefan, Hoang, T.T., Page, C., Jima, D.D., House, J.S., Maguire, R.L., Ott, R., Pawlow, X., Sirignano, L., Zillich, L., Malmberg, A., Rauschert, S., Melton, P., Gong, T., Karlsson, R., Fore, R., Perng, W., Laubach, Z.M., Czamara, D., Sharp, G., Breton, C.V., Schisterman, E., Yeung, E., Mumford, S.L., Fallin, M.D., LaSalle, J.M., Schmidt, R.J., Bakulski, K.M., Annesi-Maesano, I., Heude, B., Nawrot, T.S., Plusquin, M., Ghantous, A., Herceg, Z., Nisticò, L., Vafeiadi, M., Kogevinas, M., Vääräsmäki, M., Kajantie, E., Snieder, H., Corpeleijn, E., Steegers-Theunissen, R.P.M., Yang, I.V., Dabelea, D., Fossati, S., Zenclussen, Ana Claudia, Herberth, Gunda, Magnus, M., Håberg, S.E., London, S.J., Munthe-Kaas, M.C., Murphy, S.K., Hoyo, C., Ziegler, A.-G., Hummel, S., Witt, S.H., Streit, F., Frank, J., Räikkönen, K., Lahti, J., Huang, R.-C., Almqvist, C., Hivert, M.-F., Jaddoe, V.W.V., Järvelin, M.-R., Kantomaa, M., Felix, J.F., and Sebert, S.
- Abstract
Maternal educational attainment (MEA) shapes offspring health through multiple potential pathways. Differential DNA methylation may provide a mechanistic understanding of these long-term associations. We aimed to quantify the associations of MEA with offspring DNA methylation levels at birth, in childhood and in adolescence. Using 37 studies from high-income countries, we performed meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) to quantify the associations of completed years of MEA at the time of pregnancy with offspring DNA methylation levels at birth (n = 9 881), in childhood (n = 2 017), and adolescence (n = 2 740), adjusting for relevant covariates. MEA was found to be associated with DNA methylation at 473 cytosine-phosphate-guanine sites at birth, one in childhood, and four in adolescence. We observed enrichment for findings from previous EWAS on maternal folate, vitamin-B12 concentrations, maternal smoking, and pre-pregnancy BMI. The associations were directionally consistent with MEA being inversely associated with behaviours including smoking and BMI. Our findings form a bridge between socio-economic factors and biology and highlight potential pathways underlying effects of maternal education. The results broaden our understanding of bio-social associations linked to differential DNA methylation in multiple early stages of life. The data generated also offers an important resource to help a more precise understanding of the social determinants of health.
- Published
- 2023