학술논문
Maternal educational attainment in pregnancy and epigenome-wide DNA methylation changes in the offspring from birth until adolescence.
Document Type
article
Author
Choudhary, Priyanka; Monasso, Giulietta; Karhunen, Ville; Ronkainen, Justiina; Mancano, Giulia; Howe, Caitlin; Niu, Zhongzheng; Zeng, Xuehuo; Guan, Weihua; Dou, John; Feinberg, Jason; Mordaunt, Charles; Pesce, Giancarlo; Baïz, Nour; Alfano, Rossella; Martens, Dries; Wang, Congrong; Isaevska, Elena; Keikkala, Elina; Mustaniemi, Sanna; Thio, Chris; Fraszczyk, Eliza; Tobi, Elmar; Starling, Anne; Cosin-Tomas, Marta; Urquiza, Jose; Röder, Stefan; Hoang, Thanh; Page, Christian; Jima, Dereje; House, John; Maguire, Rachel; Ott, Raffael; Pawlow, Xenia; Sirignano, Lea; Zillich, Lea; Malmberg, Anni; Rauschert, Sebastian; Melton, Phillip; Gong, Tong; Karlsson, Robert; Fore, Ruby; Perng, Wei; Laubach, Zachary; Czamara, Darina; Sharp, Gemma; Breton, Carrie; Schisterman, Enrique; Yeung, Edwina; Mumford, Sunni; Fallin, M; Bakulski, Kelly; Annesi-Maesano, Isabella; Heude, Barbara; Nawrot, Tim; Plusquin, Michelle; Ghantous, Akram; Herceg, Zdenko; Nisticò, Lorenza; Vafeiadi, Marina; Kogevinas, Manolis; Vääräsmäki, Marja; Kajantie, Eero; Snieder, Harold; Corpeleijn, Eva; Steegers-Theunissen, Regine; Yang, Ivana; Dabelea, Dana; Fossati, Serena; Zenclussen, Ana; Herberth, Gunda; Magnus, Maria; Håberg, Siri; London, Stephanie; Munthe-Kaas, Monica; Murphy, Susan; Hoyo, Cathrine; Ziegler, Anette-G; Hummel, Sandra; Witt, Stephanie; Streit, Fabian; Frank, Josef; Räikkönen, Katri; Lahti, Jari; Huang, Rae-Chi; Almqvist, Catarina; Hivert, Marie-France; Jaddoe, Vincent; Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Kantomaa, Marko; Felix, Janine; Sebert, Sylvain; LaSalle, Janine; Schmidt, Rebecca
Source
Molecular Psychiatry. 29(2)
Subject
Language
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.