Habersaat Stephanie, Borghini Ayala, Nessi Jennifer, Forcada-Guex Margarita, Müller-Nix Carole, Pierrehumbert Blaise, Ansermet François
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
J Trauma Stress. 2014 Aug;27(4):488-91. doi: 10.1002/jts.21939.
Preterm infants experience intense stress during the perinatal period because they endure painful and intense medical procedures. Repeated activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis during this period may have long-term effects on subsequent cortisol regulation. A premature delivery may also be intensely stressful for the parents, and they may develop symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Usable saliva samples were collected (4 times per day over 2 days, in the morning at awakening, at midday, in the afternoon, and in the evening before going to bed) to assess the diurnal cortisol regulation from 46 preterm infants when the infants were 12 months of corrected age (∼ 14 months after birth). Mothers reported their level of PTSD symptoms. The results showed an interaction between perinatal stress and maternal traumatic stress on the diurnal cortisol slope of preterm infants (R(2) = .32). This suggests that the HPA axis of preterm infants exposed to high perinatal stress may be more sensitive to subsequent environmental stress.
早产儿在围产期会经历强烈的压力，因为他们要承受痛苦且剧烈的医疗程序。在此期间，下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴的反复激活可能会对随后的皮质醇调节产生长期影响。早产对父母来说也可能压力巨大，他们可能会出现创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的症状。收集了46名早产儿在矫正年龄为12个月时（相当于出生后约14个月）的可用唾液样本（在两天内每天收集4次，分别在早晨醒来时、中午、下午以及晚上睡觉前），以评估其昼夜皮质醇调节情况。母亲们报告了她们的PTSD症状水平。结果显示，围产期压力和母亲的创伤性压力对早产儿的昼夜皮质醇斜率存在交互作用（R(2) = 0.32）。这表明，暴露于高围产期压力下的早产儿的HPA轴可能对随后的环境压力更为敏感。
