How do stress hormones during pregnancy predict adult nicotine addiction?

Adult women whose mothers had increased levels of stress hormones while they were pregnant are at greater risk of becoming addicted to nicotine, according to a new study led by a Miriam Hospital researcher.

The 40-year longitudinal study provides the first evidence that prenatal exposure to the class of stress hormones known as glucocorticoids predicts nicotine dependence later in life – but only for daughters. It also confirms previous research that babies born to moms who smoked when pregnant have an increased risk of nicotine addiction in adulthood.

The study found that effects of maternal stress hormones and maternal smoking in pregnancy were additive in predicting nicotine addiction in adult daughters. The findings, published online by the journal Biological Psychiatry, point to the enduring influence of the prenatal environment and the importance of maternal health and well-being during pregnancy.

Lead author Laura Stroud, Ph.D., from the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at The Miriam Hospital, says the study supports the critical role of the prenatal environment when it comes to risk factors for adult disease, meaning some people may be predisposed to, or 'programmed' for, certain conditions later in life because of exposures during pregnancy, such as stress and maternal smoking.

"While maternal smoking during pregnancy has been shown to be an independent risk factor for nicotine dependence, we didn't really know – until now – which pathways or mechanisms were responsible. Most prior research involving biological mechanisms had been conducted in animals not humans," she said.

"Our study suggests that maternal smoking and high stress hormones - often linked to high stress and adverse social conditions - represent a 'double-hit' in terms of increasing an offspring's risk for nicotine addiction as an adult." Because mothers who smoke are often more stressed and living in adverse conditions– these findings represent a public health concern and highlight the need to help smoking moms quit and reduce stress levels and improve social conditions for poor pregnant mothers," Stroud added.

Associations between prenatal exposure to both glucocorticoids – particularly cortisol – and tobacco smoke emerged only for daughters, which Stroud says it consistent with some recent research findings.

"Our findings highlight the particular vulnerability of daughters to long-term adverse outcomes following maternal stress and smoking during pregnancy," she said. "We don't yet know why this is, but possible mechanisms include sex differences in stress hormone regulation in the placenta and adaptation to prenatal environmental exposures. Also, cortisol and nicotine may affect developing male and female brains differently."

"Furthermore, if daughters of smoking mothers are more likely to grow up nicotine dependent, the result is dangerous cycle of intergenerational transmission of nicotine addiction," she added.