Population-based neuroimaging reveals traces of childbirth in the maternal brain

Ann-Marie G. de Lange*, Tobias Kaufmann, Dennis van der Meer, Luigi A. Maglanoc, Dag Alnaes, Torgeir Moberget, Gwenaelle Douaud, Ole A. Andreassen, Lars T. Westlye

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Maternal brain adaptations have been found across pregnancy and postpartum, but little is known about the long-term effects of parity on the maternal brain. Using neuroimaging and machine learning, we investigated structural brain characteristics in 12,021 middle-aged women from the UK Biobank, demonstrating that parous women showed less evidence of brain aging compared to their nulliparous peers. The relationship between childbirths and a "younger-looking" brain could not be explained by common genetic variation or relevant confounders. Although prospective longitudinal studies are needed, the results suggest that parity may involve neural changes that could influence women's brain aging later in life.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)22341-22346
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume116
Issue number44
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29 Oct 2019

Keywords

  • ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE
  • HIPPOCAMPAL NEUROGENESIS
  • MOTHERHOOD
  • NEUROPLASTICITY
  • NUMBER
  • PLASTICITY
  • PREGNANCY
  • REPRODUCTION
  • RISK
  • SEX-DIFFERENCES
  • brain imaging
  • genetics
  • machine learning
  • pregnancy and childbirth
  • Brain imaging
  • Pregnancy and childbirth
  • Machine learning
  • Genetics

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