Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA.
School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2020 Nov;173(3):448-462. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.24105. Epub 2020 Aug 3.
Alterations in adult hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity have increasingly been linked with early life stress and adult depression, but a limited number of studies have used longitudinal data to explore HPA axis dysregulation as an underlying mechanism driving the long-term depressive impacts of early stressors. Here we address potential long-term impacts of early life, family-based stress on depressive symptoms among young adults in a longitudinal birth cohort study begun in 1983 in the Philippines.
We relate a composite measure of family-based stressors experienced between birth and adolescence to circadian dynamics in adult salivary cortisol and depressive risk measured at 21-22 years of age. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between early life stress levels and risk of adult depressive symptoms, as well as the role of adult diurnal cortisol activity in this relationship.
Greater levels of early life familial stress predicted more severe depressive symptomatology at age 21-22 in a dose-response fashion (p < .0001) independent of adult diurnal cortisol patterns. Flatter diurnal cortisol slopes are directly associated with higher adult depressive symptoms, an effect mostly driven by evening cortisol levels (p = .004). When considering the cumulative effects of early life stress measures, however, exposure to more of these stressors during development is associated with even higher depressive symptoms.
The long-term depressive effects of early life familial stress extend to this large sample of Cebuano young adults, and early life stress and HPA axis function may shape adult depressive symptoms through independent pathways in this sample. Our findings provide further evidence that HPA axis activity is shaped by early life conditions and is associated with depressive symptoms.
成人下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴活动的改变与早期生活压力和成人抑郁症的关系越来越密切，但很少有研究使用纵向数据来探讨 HPA 轴失调作为驱动早期应激源长期抑郁影响的潜在机制。在这里，我们在菲律宾于 1983 年开始的一项纵向出生队列研究中，探讨了早期生活和家庭应激对年轻成年人抑郁症状的潜在长期影响。
我们将在出生至青春期期间经历的家庭应激源综合指标与 21-22 岁时的成人唾液皮质醇昼夜节律动力学和抑郁风险相关联。进行了多元回归分析，以检验早期生活应激水平与成人抑郁症状风险之间的关系，以及成人日间皮质醇活性在这种关系中的作用。
早期家庭应激水平越高，在 21-22 岁时的抑郁症状越严重，呈剂量反应关系（p<0.0001），与成人日间皮质醇模式无关。日间皮质醇斜率越平坦与成人抑郁症状越高直接相关，这种影响主要由傍晚皮质醇水平驱动（p=0.004）。然而，当考虑早期生活应激措施的累积效应时，在发育过程中暴露于更多此类应激源与更高的抑郁症状相关。
早期家庭应激的长期抑郁影响延伸到这个来自宿务的大型年轻成年人样本，并且早期生活应激和 HPA 轴功能可能通过在该样本中的独立途径塑造成人抑郁症状。我们的研究结果进一步表明，HPA 轴活动受早期生活条件的影响，并与抑郁症状相关。
