Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven CT 06510, United States.
UCLA Department of Psychology, Los Angeles CA 90095-1563, United States.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2024 Jun;164:107017. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107017. Epub 2024 Mar 4.
Stress during pregnancy adversely impacts maternal and infant health. Dysregulation of the hypothalamic pituitary axis is a mediator of the relationship between stress and health. Evidence supporting an association between prenatal chronic stress and cortisol is limited, and the majority of research published has been conducted amongst White participants, who experience less chronic stress than people of color.
This study investigated associations between various measures of prenatal stress and hair cortisol concentrations which is a biomarker of the integrated stress response in a sample of Latina participants during the third trimester of pregnancy.
Pregnant women (n=45) were surveyed with scales measuring chronic stress, perceived stress, pregnancy-related and pregnancy-specific anxiety. Hair samples were collected as an objective neuroendocrine measure of chronic stress. Linear regression analyses were performed to assess associations between stress measures and hair cortisol. Pre-pregnancy BMI, smoking during pregnancy, and steroid use during pregnancy were used as covariates in adjusted models.
Chronic stress, operationalized as maternal reports of neighborhood/housing strain, daily activities and relationship strain, discrimination, and financial strain, was significantly associated with higher hair cortisol concentrations. No significant associations were found between hair cortisol and perceived stress, pregnancy-related anxiety, nor pregnancy-specific anxiety in adjusted models.
Chronic stress may be a more robust correlate of physiological stress, as measured by hair cortisol in pregnancy, than other common measures of prenatal stress and anxiety.
孕期压力对母婴健康均有不利影响。下丘脑-垂体轴失调是压力与健康之间关系的中介。有证据表明，产前慢性压力与皮质醇之间存在关联，但大多数已发表的研究都是在白人群体中进行的，而白人群体经历的慢性压力比有色人种少。
本研究在孕晚期的拉丁裔参与者样本中，调查了各种产前压力测量值与头发皮质醇浓度（反映综合应激反应的生物标志物）之间的关联。
对 45 名孕妇进行了慢性压力、感知压力、妊娠相关和妊娠特异性焦虑的量表测量。采集头发样本作为慢性应激的客观神经内分泌测量值。进行线性回归分析，以评估压力测量值与头发皮质醇之间的关联。调整模型中使用了孕前 BMI、孕期吸烟和孕期使用类固醇作为协变量。
慢性压力（以母亲报告的邻里/住房压力、日常活动和关系压力、歧视和经济压力来表示）与更高的头发皮质醇浓度显著相关。在调整后的模型中，头发皮质醇与感知压力、妊娠相关焦虑或妊娠特异性焦虑之间均无显著关联。
与其他常见的产前压力和焦虑测量值相比，慢性压力可能与孕期头发皮质醇测量的生理应激更为相关。
