# Antenatal Anxiety and Dyadic Immune Risk(ADIR Study)

> **NIH NIH R01** · WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV · 2024 · $707,499

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Atopic disease is a major public health problem affecting up to 20% of the world’s population, with rising
prevalence in recent decades. It is associated with fatal reactions (food allergy), and with significant
psychosocial and financial burden for children and families. Environmental and in utero exposures are known
risk factors, but little is known about the mechanisms through which exposures may confer risk. One of these
known exposures is maternal antenatal anxiety, which has been associated both with elevated markers of
allergy risk (such as levels of Immunoglobluin E (IgE)) and with atopic diagnosis in children. Maternal
antenatal anxiety has also been linked to immune dysregulation in both mothers and children, and elevated
innate immune activity in children at birth may be a key marker of future allergic risk – yet no study has
attempted to link dyadic maternal and neonatal immune dysregulation to allergy risk in the same mother-child
pairs. In this prospective, longitudinal, observational study, we propose to follow 200 mother-child pairs (132 at
risk for clinically significant anxiety and 68 healthy controls) from the second trimester of pregnancy until
infants reach 12 months of age. We hypothesize that women with clinically significant antenatal anxiety will
demonstrate elevated immune activity compared to healthy controls, that stimulated cells and gene expression
from umbilical cord blood in these pregnancies will similarly show evidence of increased immune activity, and
that maternal and child immune activity will be associated with markers of allergy risk in children. We will
measure immune cell populations and cytokines produced by stimulated cells in mothers and children; will
conduct methylation analyses of immune-related genes in the cord blood of children (focusing on known
biomarkers of future allergic risk); will measure atopic dermatitis in children; and will measure IgE to common
allergens and maternal report of food allergic reactions in children. In addition, we will observe mother-child
interactions surrounding feeding to account for elements of the postnatal environment that may contribute to
elevated child allergic risk. Our thorough and rigorous experimental plan will help to illuminate pathways that
contribute to the association between maternal antenatal anxiety and child allergy risk, and may lead to novel
interventions to ameliorate symptoms and risk in both mother and child.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10850963
- **Project number:** 5R01HD110419-02
- **Recipient organization:** WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV
- **Principal Investigator:** Lauren M Osborne
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $707,499
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-06-01 → 2028-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10850963

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10850963, Antenatal Anxiety and Dyadic Immune Risk(ADIR Study) (5R01HD110419-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10850963. Licensed CC0.

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