The effect of perinatal stress in preterm infants on later development trajectory

In this project, we want to investigate the role of perinatal stress in the developmental trajectory of preterm infants. Preterm infants long-term development and perinatal stress are both multifactorial concepts, comprising physiological, psychological and interrelational aspects. Also, the complex pathology of preterm infants and the difficulty of interpreting clinical data make research in this domain statistically and technically challenging. Therefore, perinatal stress research warrants a multidisciplinary approach. With this proposal we want to start a long-term collaboration between different research groups on the topic of perinatal stress in order to identify stress markers in the preterm infant and pinpoint factors that modulate the effects of stress on short and long term outcome. This would enable the development of new interventions to decrease stress and its consequences in prematurely born infants with the ultimate goal to improve long-term quality of life of these newborns.

Keywords:perinatal stress

Disciplines:Neurosciences, Biological and physiological psychology, Cognitive science and intelligent systems, Developmental psychology and ageing