Department of Psychological Sciences, Rice University, USA.
Department of Psychological Sciences, Rice University, USA.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2024 Oct;168:107140. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107140. Epub 2024 Jul 19.
Dementia spousal caregivers are at risk for adverse mental and physical health outcomes. Caregiver burden, anticipatory grief, and proinflammatory cytokine production may contribute to depressive symptoms among caregivers. People who report childhood trauma are more likely to have exaggerated stress responses that may also contribute to depressive symptoms in adulthood. This study aimed to test whether the relationship between whole-blood cytokine production and depressive symptoms is strongest in caregivers who report high levels of childhood trauma.
A sample of 103 dementia spousal caregivers provided self-report data on demographics, health information, caregiver burden, anticipatory grief, and depressive symptoms. We also determined lipopolysaccharide-induced whole-blood cytokine production as the primary measure of immune cell reactivity. We measured interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-10 (IL-10) and converted z-scores of each cytokine into a composite panel. We regressed depressive symptoms on proinflammatory cytokine production, caregiver burden, and anticipatory grief, adjusting for demographic and health-related covariates.
Whole-blood cytokine production and childhood trauma were associated with depressive symptoms. Childhood trauma moderated the relationship between whole-blood cytokine production and depressive symptoms. Whole-blood cytokine production was only associated with depressive symptoms at mean and high levels of childhood trauma, but not at low levels of childhood trauma. The main effects of burden and anticipatory grief on depressive symptoms were strongest for caregivers reporting high levels of childhood trauma.
Childhood trauma has lasting impacts on psychosocial experiences later in life and has effects that may confer susceptibility to inflammation-related depression. Our findings contribute to ongoing efforts to identify risk factors for adverse mental health in dementia spousal caregivers.
痴呆症配偶照料者面临不良心理和身体健康结果的风险。照料者负担、预期悲伤和促炎细胞因子产生可能导致照料者出现抑郁症状。报告童年创伤的人更有可能出现夸大的应激反应，这也可能导致成年后出现抑郁症状。本研究旨在测试报告童年创伤水平较高的照料者中，全血细胞因子产生与抑郁症状之间的关系是否最强。
103 名痴呆症配偶照料者提供了人口统计学、健康信息、照料者负担、预期悲伤和抑郁症状的自我报告数据。我们还确定了脂多糖诱导的全血细胞因子产生作为免疫细胞反应性的主要测量指标。我们测量了白细胞介素-1β（IL-1β）、白细胞介素-6（IL-6）、肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）和白细胞介素-10（IL-10），并将每种细胞因子的 z 分数转换为复合面板。我们将抑郁症状回归到促炎细胞因子产生、照料者负担和预期悲伤上，并调整了人口统计学和与健康相关的协变量。
全血细胞因子产生和童年创伤与抑郁症状相关。童年创伤调节了全血细胞因子产生与抑郁症状之间的关系。只有在童年创伤的平均和高水平，而不是在低水平时，全血细胞因子的产生才与抑郁症状相关。负担和预期悲伤对抑郁症状的主要影响在报告童年创伤水平较高的照料者中最强。
童年创伤对以后的生活中的社会心理体验有持久的影响，并可能导致与炎症相关的抑郁易感性。我们的研究结果有助于识别痴呆症配偶照料者不良心理健康的风险因素。
