Maternal telomere length and oxidative stress in pregnancy: cross-sectional analysis with an exploratory examination of systemic inflammation

Background: Telomere length (TL) is a marker of cellular aging associated with risk for age-related diseases and is known to be influenced by various factors, including oxidative stress and inflammation, in the contexts of stress and aging. The physiological demands of pregnancy may impact maternal TL, though research in this area is sparse. We tested oxidative stress and explored inflammation as predictors of maternal TL in a sample of women with normative pregnancies. Methods: Participants (N = 88, aged 18 to 46 years, 25% non-Hispanic Black, 65% non-Hispanic White) were recruited during their 2nd or 3rd trimester. TL was measured using saliva via qPCR as absolute TL. Oxidative stress was derived from principal component analysis of selected metabolites measured via urinary metabolomics. Inflammation was quantified as total IL-6 in serum. Hypotheses were tested with stepwise generalized linear models. Results: Longer TL was predicted by higher oxidative stress (b = 0.20 ± 0.08; P =.019), controlling for maternal age, gestational age, race/ethnicity, maternal BMI, and income-to-needs ratio. In our exploratory analysis, longer TL was also predicted by higher IL-6 (b = 0.76 ± 0.20; P =.0003) controlling for covariates. There was no significant interaction between oxidative stress and inflammation predicting TL. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that in normative pregnancies, both oxidative stress and inflammation are independently associated with longer telomere length. Given that these associations are inconsistent with the role of oxidative stress and inflammation on telomere biology in non-pregnant samples, future work should aim to replicate these findings in both normal and high-risk pregnancies, explore mechanisms underlying these associations using longitudinal designs, and examine how these relationships influence maternal and fetal health.