Plank Anne-Christine, Maschke Janina, Mestermann Stefan, Janson-Schmitt Johanna, Sturmbauer Sarah, Eichler Anna, Rohleder Nicolas
Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Chair of Health Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Compr Psychoneuroendocrinol. 2024 Jul 3;19:100249. doi: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2024.100249. eCollection 2024 Aug.
General peri- and postnatal characteristics may serve as markers linking pre- or early postnatal events to later health outcomes, which in turn are associated with altered stress- and immune system activity. Our exploratory study investigated whether A) the common perinatal measures "birth weight" and "birth mode" and B) the postnatal characteristics "breastfeeding" and "vaccination status" are associated with markers of stress systems - the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and autonomous nervous system (ANS) - and inflammation in healthy young adults ( = 68, females: 70.6 %, mean age: 24.21 years, = 4.38) exposed to psychosocial challenge, the 'Trier Social Stress Test' (TSST). Salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase (sAA) and plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6) were assessed before, during and after the TSST. Participants provided information on peri- and postnatal characteristics. Linear regressions were performed to determine whether peri-/postnatal variables predict basal and stress-response-related biomarker levels. Controlling for sex and sex hormone use as relevant confounders, we found a significant association between birth weight and cortisol recovery ( = 0.032), with higher birth weight predicting higher cortisol recovery values. There were no other significant associations between predictor and outcome variables. Our results show that, in healthy young adults of mixed gender, normal-ranged birth weight is related to the cortisol response to psychosocial stress, indicating a long-term association of this perinatal marker with HPA axis function. In contrast, birth weight was not associated with markers of the ANS stress response or inflammation in adulthood. Our results further suggest that the measures birth mode, duration of breastfeeding, and vaccination status at 4 months of age do not relate to markers of the inflammatory and stress systems in adulthood.
一般围产期和产后特征可作为将产前或产后早期事件与后期健康结果联系起来的标志物，而后期健康结果又与应激和免疫系统活动的改变有关。我们的探索性研究调查了：A）常见的围产期指标“出生体重”和“分娩方式”，以及B）产后特征“母乳喂养”和“疫苗接种状况”是否与应激系统的标志物——下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴和自主神经系统（ANS）——以及暴露于心理社会挑战（“特里尔社会应激测试”[TSST]）的健康年轻成年人（n = 68，女性：70.6%，平均年龄：24.21岁，标准差 = 4.38）的炎症相关。在TSST之前、期间和之后评估唾液皮质醇、α-淀粉酶（sAA）和血浆白细胞介素-6（IL-6）。参与者提供了围产期和产后特征的信息。进行线性回归以确定围产期/产后变量是否能预测基础和应激反应相关的生物标志物水平。在将性别和性激素使用作为相关混杂因素进行控制后，我们发现出生体重与皮质醇恢复之间存在显著关联（p = 0.032），出生体重越高，皮质醇恢复值越高。预测变量和结果变量之间没有其他显著关联。我们的结果表明，在性别混合的健康年轻成年人中，正常范围的出生体重与心理社会应激的皮质醇反应有关，表明这一围产期标志物与HPA轴功能存在长期关联。相比之下，出生体重与成年期ANS应激反应或炎症的标志物无关。我们的结果进一步表明，分娩方式、母乳喂养持续时间和4个月大时的疫苗接种状况与成年期炎症和应激系统的标志物无关。
