“We will investigate whether maternal stress during pregnancy and exposure to endocrine-disrupting substances in fetal life can increase the child’s risk of, for example, overweight, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure later in life. Our hypothesis is that influences during fetal life can ‘program’ health in a negative direction,” explains Cecilia Ramlau-Hansen.

Together with her research colleagues, she will use advanced epidemiological methods to examine whether factors such as weight development in childhood, puberty, and mental health play a role as links between prenatal influences and signs of disease in adulthood.

According to Cecilia Ramlau-Hansen, more knowledge is needed about how social and environmental factors - especially during pregnancy - affect health.

“Until now, research on the development of cardiovascular disease has primarily focused on diet and growth in fetal life. The new project, which we have now received funding for, is important because it may show whether maternal stress and endocrine-disrupting substances in this very earliest stage of life are significant for the development of cardiovascular diseases in the long term, potentially forming the basis for better prevention of these conditions,” she says.

Contact

Professor Cecilia Høst Ramlau-Hansen
Aarhus University, Department of Public Health
Phone: +45 26 29 57 15
Email: chrh@ph.au.dk