Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42491829›Full record

ArticleiScience2026

Maternal biological aging from pregnancy through four years postpartum with disrupted recovery by subsequent pregnancy.

Laura Etzel, Patricia Garrett-Peters, Qiaofeng Ye, Abner T Apsley, Aaliya Ahamed, John T Kozlosky, Christopher R Chiaro, Lorrie Schmid, Victoria K Lee, Cathi Propper and 3 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in iScience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Laura EtzelSocial Science Research Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Patricia Garrett-PetersSocial Science Research Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Qiaofeng YeDepartment of Biobehavioral Health, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Abner T ApsleyDepartment of Biobehavioral Health, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Aaliya AhamedDepartment of Biobehavioral Health, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
John T KozloskyDepartment of Biobehavioral Health, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Christopher R ChiaroDepartment of Biobehavioral Health, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Lorrie SchmidSocial Science Research Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Victoria K LeeSocial Science Research Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Cathi PropperSchool of Nursing, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Roger Mills-KoonceSchool of Education, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Sarah J ShortDepartment of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Idan ShalevDepartment of Biobehavioral Health, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.

Funding

UNC-CH CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH &SUSCEPTIBILITYP30ES010126 · NIEHS · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI Hazel B Nichols · 2001 to 2026
$36.3M
Early Life Experience and Childhood Telomere Biology: A Longitudinal Study of Developmental Context and Behavioral MediatorsR01NR019610 · NINR · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI GARRETT-PETERS, PATRICIA, SHALEV, IDAN · 2021 to 2025
$2.7M
NIEHS NIH HHS P30 ES010126NINR NIH HHS R01 NR019610
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Pregnancy has been proposed as a biological "stress test" that may transiently accelerate maternal biological aging, followed by partial recovery postpartum, yet longitudinal evidence remains limited. This longitudinal study followed 130 women at mid to late pregnancy, 6-9 months postpartum, and 36-43 months postpartum, to characterize nonlinear changes in markers of biological aging, including telomere length, epigenetic aging measures, and pace of aging derived from saliva samples. Using generalized additive mixed models, results indicated relative stability or slowing of biological aging during early postpartum, followed by marker-specific patterns of stabilization or decline in later postpartum. Subsequent pregnancy in later postpartum was associated with shorter telomere length and disrupted recovery trajectories, particularly accelerating the pace of aging among women who became pregnant again. Findings suggest that while postpartum biological aging recovery may occur, such recovery may be vulnerable to interruption by additional pregnancies.

Indexed as

biological agingepigenetic clocksmaternal healthpace of agingpostpartumpregnancytelomere length

Identifiers

PMID42491829
PMCPMC13378295

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.