Impacto das infecções maternas crônicas: associações entre a soropositividade materna para anticorpos IgG contra Toxoplasma gondii com restrição no crescimento fetal e efeitos no neurodesenvolvimento infantil

Abstract

This work is part of a broader study called DSAN-12m (Socioenvironmental Determinants of Children's Neurodevelopment at 12 Months: A Longitudinal Study in the Recôncavo Baiano), which aims to investigate the socioenvironmental determinants of children's neurodevelopment at 12 months of age in a birth cohort in the Recôncavo Baiano region.In this thesis, the current state of the art regarding the relationships between maternal immune activation, chronic/latent prenatal infectious diseases, and neurodevelopment was assessed. Additionally, two original manuscripts were developed to investigate the impact of infections during pregnancy, particularly in the absence of evidence of acute disease, on fetal growth at birth and on children's neurodevelopment at 12 months of age. For better organization, the text was divided into a review manuscript, which presents the theoretical framework and systematizes publications on the thesis topic. Following this, two original manuscripts are presented, followed by final considerations to maintain the coherence of the work. The first manuscript, titled “Impact of Chronic Toxoplasmosis in Pregnancy: Association between Maternal Seropositivity for Toxoplasma gondii IgG Antibodies and Fetal Growth Restriction”, investigated the relationships between the prevalence of specific antibodies in pregnant women and fetal development alterations at birth. Notably, this manuscript was published in the journal Parasitology Research (ISSN: 1432-1955, Impact Factor: 1.8) in December 2023 (APPENDIX E). The second manuscript, titled “Impact of Chronic Toxoplasmosis in Pregnancy: Association between Maternal IgG Antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii and Neurocognitive Development Effects”, explored the association between the prevalence of specific antibodies in pregnant women and neurodevelopmental alterations in their children at 12 months of age. This manuscript is formatted according to the guidelines of Parasitology Research and will be submitted for publication after incorporating the corrections suggested by the evaluation committee. Finally, the thesis concludes with final considerations and future perspectives, integrating the results of this study with other socioenvironmental determinants that adversely affect child neurodevelopment in this birth cohort conducted in the Recôncavo Baiano, the DSAN-12m study.