PhD Oral Defense: Maternal stressors impact maternal wellbeing and cortisol and infant growth in rural Guatemala: insights from qualitative and quantitative approaches

PhD Oral Defense of Anne Marie Chomat, Institute of Parasitology.

Despite decades of nutrition interventions, Guatemala has one of the highest rates of child stunting in the world, especially affecting its indigenous population. Impaired linear growth may be a consequence of maternal stresses associated not only with malnutrition and infection but also with psychosocial factors, the effects of which may be mediated by cortisol. In 8 marginalized rural Mam-Mayan communities in the Western Highlands, to (1) characterize women’s exposure to nutrition, infection and psychosocial stressors vs. resilience factors, (2) describe the maternal diurnal salivary cortisol rhythm in pregnancy and postpartum (PP) and explore its association with psychosocial variables, (3) assess the cumulative impact of maternal-level factors (nutritional, infectious, psychosocial), social factors (autonomy, social support, domestic violence), and household factors (socioeconomic status, food security) on early infant growth, and (4) evaluate whether maternal cortisol may be a mediator in the vertical transmission of stress.

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