Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
Department of Basic Sciences, College of Medicine, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
J Affect Disord. 2024 Dec 1;366:345-353. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.08.141. Epub 2024 Aug 25.
Stress and negative mood in pregnancy have been linked to less favorable birth outcomes, but the mechanisms underlying this effect remain largely unknown. We examined associations between emotions in pregnancy, pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-17, MCP-1, MIP-1β, TNF-α) and birth outcomes (gestational age at birth and birth weight) in a low-risk sample.
At each trimester of pregnancy, participants (N = 74) completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Perceived Stress Scale, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. They provided blood samples in the third trimester. Multivariate regression with a reduction of dimensionality (orthogonal projection to latent structures) was used to assess associations between maternal emotions, cytokine levels, and birth outcomes.
We found significant positive associations between negative mood (depressive symptoms in the second and third trimesters and negative affect in the third trimester) and anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 levels, and negative associations between maternal distress in the second and third trimesters and pro-/anti-inflammatory cytokine ratios (IFN-γ/IL-10, TNF-α/IL-10 and IL-6/IL-10). Higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IFN-γ, IL-12, IL-17, and TNF-α were associated with younger gestational age at birth and lower birth weight.
We did not control for relevant factors such as social support, health-related behaviors, or cortisol levels.
Negative mood in mid- and late pregnancy may shift cytokine balance toward the anti-inflammatory cytokine dominance. Our results provide further evidence for the negative association between pro-inflammatory cytokines in late pregnancy and gestational age at birth/birth weight, which we observed even in a low-risk population.
孕期的压力和负面情绪与不太理想的分娩结果有关，但这种影响的机制在很大程度上仍不清楚。我们在一个低风险样本中检查了孕期情绪与促炎和抗炎细胞因子（IFN-γ、IL-6、IL-8、IL-10、IL-12、IL-17、MCP-1、MIP-1β、TNF-α）与分娩结果（出生时的胎龄和出生体重）之间的关系。
在妊娠的每个三个月期间，参与者（N=74）完成了积极和消极情绪量表、感知压力量表、爱丁堡产后抑郁量表和状态-特质焦虑量表。他们在第三个三个月期提供了血液样本。使用降维的多元回归（潜在结构的正交投影）来评估产妇情绪、细胞因子水平与分娩结果之间的关联。
我们发现，负面情绪（第二个和第三个三个月的抑郁症状和第三个三个月的负面情绪）与抗炎细胞因子 IL-10 水平呈显著正相关，而第二个和第三个三个月的产妇困扰与促炎/抗炎细胞因子比值（IFN-γ/IL-10、TNF-α/IL-10 和 IL-6/IL-10）呈负相关。较高水平的促炎细胞因子 IFN-γ、IL-12、IL-17 和 TNF-α与出生时胎龄较小和出生体重较低有关。
我们没有控制社会支持、与健康相关的行为或皮质醇水平等相关因素。
妊娠中期和晚期的负面情绪可能会使细胞因子平衡向抗炎细胞因子优势转移。我们的结果进一步证明了妊娠晚期促炎细胞因子与胎龄和出生体重之间的负相关，即使在低风险人群中也是如此。
