Gender-specific associations of pregnancy-related anxiety with placental epigenetic patterning of glucocorticoid response genes and preschooler’s emotional symptoms and hyperactivity

BACKGROUD: We have recently reported that maternal prenatal pregnancy-related anxiety predicts preschoolers’ emotional and behavioral development in a gender-dependent manner. This study aims to test for this gender-specific effect in a different cohort and investigate whether the gender difference was specific to placental methylation of genes regulating glucocorticoids. METHODS: A total of 2405 mother–child pairs from the Ma’anshan Birth Cohort Study were included in present study. The maternal pregnancy-related anxiety symptoms were evaluated with the Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire in the third trimester of pregnancy. Child neurobehavior was assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire at 4 years old. Placental methylation of FKBP5, NR3C1 and HSD11B2 genes was quantified using the MethylTarget approach in 439 pregnant women. After exploratory factor analysis, the associations between methylation factor scores and pregnancy-related anxiety and child neurobehavior were examined using logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: After controlling for confounding factors, pregnancy-related anxiety in the third trimester of pregnancy increased the risk of hyperactivity only in boys and emotional symptoms only in girls. Decreased scores of the factor characterized by FKBP5 methylation were associated with maternal pregnancy-related anxiety only in boys. Furthermore, increased scores of the factors characterized by NR3C1 and HSD11B2 methylation were associated with hyperactivity (NR3C1: adjusted OR = 1.80, 95%CI = 1.15–2.83) and emotional symptoms (HSD11B2: adjusted OR = 0.53, 95%CI = 0.29–0.97; NR3C1: adjusted OR = 1.64, 95%CI = 1.03–2.59) only in boys. However, the scores of the factor characterized by FKBP5, NR3C1 and HSD11B2 did not mediate the relationship between maternal pregnancy-related anxiety and preschoolers’ emotional symptoms and hyperactivity. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that pregnancy-related anxiety in the third trimester of pregnancy predicted preschoolers’ emotional symptoms and hyperactivity in a gender-dependent manner. Although we did not find the mediation role of the placental methylation of genes regulating glucocorticoids, we found it was associated with both maternal pregnancy-related anxiety and preschoolers’ emotional symptoms and hyperactivity in a gender-dependent manner. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12887-021-02938-z.