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.
RAS ID
64651
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2023
Volume
29
Funding Information
European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program / Open Access funding provided by University of Oulu (including Oulu University Hospital).
PubMed ID
38052982
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Publisher
Nature
Comments
Choudhary, P., Monasso, G. S., Karhunen, V., Ronkainen, J., Mancano, G., Howe, C. G., . . . Sebert, S. (2023). Maternal educational attainment in pregnancy and epigenome-wide DNA methylation changes in the offspring from birth until adolescence. Molecular Psychiatry, 29, 348-358. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-023-02331-5