Impact of pregnancy outcomes on daily stress and implications for vascular aging
Description: Adverse pregnancy outcomes (APO) have doubled in prevalence in the last decade and are independently associated with a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease in women by midlife. The mechanistic pathways by which APO contribute to accelerated cardiovascular aging in women remain unclear. However, greater emotional responsivity to daily stressors is an emerging factor implicated in early vascular aging. Indeed, pregnancy is a major life event, and greater stress levels are reported among women who had an APO relative to uncomplicated pregnancy in the postpartum period. As such, amplified emotional responsivity to daily stressors may represent a novel, modifiable, biobehavioral pathway that contributes in part to accelerated vascular aging among women with a history of APO. Accordingly, the objective of this project is to test the central hypothesis that APO are associated with greater affective response to daily stressors at midlife and this will explain in part greater endothelial dysfunction after APO. To test this, we will assess dynamic daily stress processes for 10 consecutive days in a free living environment using mobile app-based daily diary approach in N=200 premenopausal women (ages 30-50, 5-15 years following most recent pregnancy). Latent class analyses will be used to identify pregnancy history patterns and affective response to daily stressors will be compared amongst resultant groups. In a subset, we will additionally assess microvascular endothelial function via intradermal microdialysis coupled with laser Doppler flowmetry in women with a history of APO (n=20) compared with uncomplicated pregnancy (n=20). Results of the proposed study will identify susceptible populations through the first comprehensive assessment of APO history and affective vulnerability to daily stressors reactivity and establish a novel mechanistic pathway linking APO to midlife cardiovascular risk.
Funder: American Heart Association
Amount: $159,200
Funding type: fellowship
Funder scheme: Postdoctoral Fellowship
Start date: 2026-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Investigators: Virginia Nuckols, Virginia Nuckols
Institution: University of Delaware
Funded outputs count: 0
Funder award ID: 26POST1565291
OpenAlex ID: G78887733