Relationship between maternal adverse childhood experiences and infant development: A systematic review (protocol)

Introduction: Twenty years ago, the first study was conducted to access adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and their relation to outcomes in adulthood. The effects of exposure to childhood trauma can also be transmitted to other generations. There are some studies that suggest the hypothesis that intergenerational transmission may begin during intrauterine life through the change in placental-fetal physiology due to maternal exposure to adverse events in childhood. Those exposures can lead to a variety of conditions such as altered brain architecture, increase in placental corticotrophin hormone (pCRH) at the end of gestation, or emotional and behavioral changes during childhood and adolescence. The systematic review, therefore, is established to determine if there is a reliable association between maternal ACEs in childhood and altered child development.