Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, OR, USA.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2021 Feb;62(2):199-211. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13264. Epub 2020 May 21.
A substantial body of research has emerged suggesting that depression is strongly linked to poor physical health outcomes, which may be partly due to increased allostatic load across stress response systems. Interestingly, health risks associated with depression are also borne by the offspring of depressed persons. Our aim was to simultaneously investigate whether maternal depression is associated not only with increased allostatic load across cardiac control, inflammation, cellular aging, but also if this is transmitted to adolescent children, possibly increasing the risk for early onset of psychiatric conditions and disease in these offspring.
A preregistered, case-control study of 180 low-income mothers (50% mothers depressed, 50% mothers nondepressed) and their adolescent offspring was conducted to determine how depressed mothers and their adolescent offspring systematically differ in terms of autonomic, sympathetic, and parasympathetic cardiac control; inflammation; cellular aging; and behavioral health in offspring, which are indicators suggestive of higher allostatic load.
Findings indicate that depressed mothers and their adolescent offspring differ in terms of comorbid mental and physical health risk profiles that are suggestive of higher allostatic load. Findings indicate that depressed mothers exhibit elevated resting heart rate and decreased heart rate variability, and adolescent offspring of depressed mothers exhibit greater mental health symptoms, elevated heart rate, and accelerated biological aging (shorter telomeres). These effects persisted after controlling for a range of potential covariates, including medication use, sex, age, and adolescents' own mental health symptoms.
Findings indicate that maternal depression is associated with increased allostatic load in depressed women and their adolescent children, possibly increasing risk for early onset of psychiatric conditions and disease in these offspring. Future research is needed to delineate why some biological systems are more impacted than others and to explore how findings might inform preventative programs targeted at adolescent offspring of depressed mothers.
大量研究表明，抑郁与身体健康状况不佳密切相关，这可能部分归因于压力反应系统中全身体负荷的增加。有趣的是，抑郁相关的健康风险也存在于抑郁患者的子女身上。我们的目的是同时调查母亲抑郁是否不仅与心脏控制、炎症、细胞衰老等方面的全身体负荷增加有关，还与这种情况是否会传递给青少年子女，从而增加这些子女早期出现精神疾病和疾病的风险。
一项针对 180 名低收入母亲（50%为抑郁母亲，50%为非抑郁母亲）及其青少年子女的病例对照研究，旨在确定抑郁母亲及其青少年子女在自主神经、交感神经和副交感神经心脏控制、炎症、细胞衰老以及子女行为健康方面的差异，这些差异提示全身体负荷增加。
研究结果表明，抑郁母亲及其青少年子女在共病精神和身体健康风险方面存在差异，这些差异提示全身体负荷增加。研究结果表明，抑郁母亲的静息心率升高，心率变异性降低，而抑郁母亲的青少年子女表现出更多的心理健康症状、心率升高和生物衰老加速（端粒缩短）。这些影响在控制了一系列潜在的混杂因素后仍然存在，包括药物使用、性别、年龄和青少年自身的心理健康症状。
研究结果表明，母亲抑郁与抑郁女性及其青少年子女的全身体负荷增加有关，可能增加这些子女早期出现精神疾病和疾病的风险。未来的研究需要阐明为什么一些生物系统比其他系统受到更大的影响，并探索这些发现如何为针对抑郁母亲的青少年子女的预防计划提供信息。
