Several skin changes are evident in pregnancy, however very less is known about the structural and functional skin changes. Skin structure and function in children in their first year show rapid skin maturation, but evidence suggests that their water-holding and transport mechanisms are different from adults. It is important to find if maternal cutaneous properties predict infant skin condition, and if yes, then how. This is particularly applicable for the skin’s microbiome because it closely interacts with the host and is presumed to play a role in various skin diseases. 

Thus an observational longitudinal study is designed to explore characteristics of skin and hair of pregnant women and their newborns during pregnancy and in the first six months after delivery and their associations. Pregnant females between 18 and 45 years are being recruited for the study, with a final sample size of 100 women. Noninvasive, standardized skin, hair, and skin microbiome measurements will be done. The baseline visit will be during pregnancy until at the latest four weeks before delivery. Follow-up visits will be at four weeks and six months after birth for mothers and their newborns. Descriptive statistical methods using frequencies and associations over time depending on scale levels of the measurements will be calculated. 

Most of the studies investigating infants’ skin microbiome and its associations are cross-sectional and have included selected characteristics in small samples. This longitudinal study will characterize a broad range of individual and environmental characteristics of mothers and their newborns to estimate interrelationships with skin parameters and their changes over time. Evaluating the combination of these numerous variables and levels will help in a deeper understanding of the complex interrelationship of the newborn’s skin maturation. 

SOURCE- Wilborn D, Kottner J, Hillmann K, Xu S, Konietschke F, Blume-Peytavi U. Interrelationships between Skin Structure, Function, and Microbiome of Pregnant Females and Their Newborns: Study Protocol for a Prospective Cohort Study. Dermatology Research and Practice, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/4163705