Work

Associations of gestational anxiety and depression with neonatal hair steroid levels

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: To investigate the association prenatal maternal depression and anxiety may have on the levels of neonatal hair steroids (i.e. cortisol, cortisone, and the cortisol/cortisone ratio) at birth. Altogether, 271 mother-infant pairs derived from the Finnish Kuopio Birth Cohort Study were assessed for maternal depression and anxiety using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS: EPDS-10 for depression, EPDS-3A for anxiety) during the first (T1) and third (T3) trimesters. The levels of cortisol and cortisone were determined from neonatal hair samples obtained at birth. Linear mixed models adjusted for sex, preterm birth, smoking during pregnancy, and gestational diabetes were used. Neither T1 nor T3 EPDS-10 predicted the levels of neonatal hair steroids. T3 EPDS-3A (p = 0.012), but not T1 EPDS-3A, was linked to reduced neonatal hair cortisol levels. Neither T1 nor T3 EPDS-3A were significant predictors of neonate cortisone levels or cortisol/cortisone ratios. Prenatal maternal anxiety, but not depression, may lead to pronounced alterations in some markers of fetal stress systems. Future research should further determine whether prenatal maternal symptoms of anxiety would form an optimal intervention target in order to attenuate fetal stress responses. • Prenatal anxiety and depression measured in trimester one and trimester three. • N = 271 Mother-infant pairs included in sample. • Neonatal hair samples collected at birth and hair cortisol and cortisone contents measured. • No associations detected between trimester one measures and hair steroid measures. • Trimester three anxiety significantly predicted lower neonate hair cortisol levels.

Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology

DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107260