The Impact of a Culturally-based Live Music Intervention on the Metabolites and Metabolic Pathways Associated with Chronic Stress and the Risk of Preterm Birth in Black Women

Funding Detail: NIH R01
Institutions: Columbia University, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai
PI: Elizabeth Corwin, Joanne Loewy

The health disparity in preterm birth (PTB) that exists in the United States (US) is a national crisis. Pregnant Black women have a 50% higher risk of PTB compared to pregnant White women in the US, and their infants are more than twice as likely to die. This disparity continues despite decades of research and tried intervention. research as necessary. Although additional research has been conducted, the high rates of PTB among Black women have continued unabated. Partnering with Columbia University, we will conduct a first of its kind clinic trial: testing the efficacy of a 10-week, live, culturally congruent music intervention compared to a similarly delivered 10-week sham control, to reduce the biological impact of chronic stress at the most fundamental level — the molecules and metabolic pathways that are affected by stress. We further propose implementing the Music Characterization System (MCS) to identify the musical mechanisms underlying any benefit. Black women in the US often are exposed to chronic stress related to their race, sex, socioeconomic status, and social determinants of health including neighborhood and household food insecurity. Our study stems from our team’s previous research demonstrating that within a similar population of pregnant Black women, chronic stress was associated with changes in maternal metabolites and metabolic pathways linked to oxidative stress, energy production, and myelination, all potentially influencing pregnancy and newborn outcomes. This study also stems from our team’s rigorous research showing the power of live music to reduce stress and improve outcomes. Music is one of the earliest, most traditional art forms in human history, while metabolomics is one of the newest and most advanced technologies available in the world today. We have the opportunity to identify a means by which the beneficial effects of live, culturally relevant music chosen by a pregnant woman and implemented therapeutically, can reduce the biological impact of the daily stressors to which she is exposed, and as a result, reduce one of the most persistent health disparities of our time, PTB.