SAT-255 - Postpartum Molecular Profiles in Relation to Neighborhood Context using Multi-Modal Biological Measures

Background: Women who live in high-risk urban environments experience a higher mortality and morbidity during the postpartum period. Neighborhood conditions measured by the Area Deprivation Index (ADI), such as income, education, employment, and housing quality, along with environmental exposures and socio-economic indicators (such as poverty, race, and age), may contribute to this disproportionate burden or elevated risk among women. The biological effects that these conditions may have on postpartum women are not well understood, and this study aims to characterize the molecular profiles associated with these neighborhood factors that may increase the risk of morbidity and mortality among women living in urban areas.

Methods: We are actively recruiting 200 participants from a diverse population residing in disadvantaged areas within Chicago, Illinois. We are collecting surveys, neighborhood, and clinical data along with biological samples. To generate a molecular profile associated with neighborhood factors and environmental exposure, we will do steroid profiling (GC/MS), quantification of blood biomarkers related to depression, inflammation, or maternal health outcome (IL-6, CXCL3, CPR, Iron, Vitamin D, GH, IFN-gamma, CXCL1, CCL4, MMP-7, EN-RAGE, among others), epigenetic analysis using CUT&RUN profiling of GR and active histone (H3K27ac) in peripheral blood monocytes (PBMC). We will map these epigenetic changes to biological pathways using GSEA analysis. Once the profiles are obtained, we will quantify associations with neighborhood characteristics, plasma steroid levels, and plasma biomarkers to identify epigenetic changes elicited by exposure to stress that correlate with clinical/biological biomarkers of stress/inflammation/depression in this population.
Results and conclusion: We expect to identify molecular indicators of maternal health outcomes to elucidate neighborhood and environmental characteristics that contribute to biological pathways linked to increased risk of maternal postpartum morbidity and mortality.

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