Interplay between stress, sleep, and BDNF in a high-risk sample of young adults
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Children in institutional care have a high risk to experience childhood adversities (CAs), with consequences for physical and mental well-being. The long-term effects of CAs on the brain, including consequences for neuronal plasticity and sleep, are poorly understood. This study examined the interplay between stress (including CAs), sleep, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a prominent marker for neuronal plasticity. Participants ( N = 131, mean age = 26.3±3.4 years, 40 females) with residential youth-care history completed questionnaires measuring CAs (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, CTQ), psychological well-being (World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index, WHO-5), and sleep disturbances (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory, PSQI). Hair cortisol and serum BDNF concentration were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The analyses were conducted by using bootstrap regression models. There was no association of stress parameters or sleep with BDNF concentration. However, we found a significant association of CAs and well-being with sleep disturbances. Last, we found an association between CAs and BDNF in sleep-healthy but not sleep-disturbed participants. Our findings indicated a role of sleep disturbance in the association between stress and BDNF. Still, further studies are warranted using vulnerable groups at-risk to understand long-term effects on mental health and sleep.
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Flagged first, then by citations
- Authors
- Varghese, N., Buergin, D., Boonmann, C., Stadler, C., Schmid, M., Eckert, A., & Unternaehrer, E.
- Affiliations
- University of Basel (CH)
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2023-11-22
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 20524-20524
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10665413
- OpenAlex
- W4388927221
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 2
- FWCI
- 3.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Leiden Repository (Leiden University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- KOPS (University of Konstanz) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Swiss Ministry of Justice
- Gertrud Thalmann Fonds of the University Psychiatric Hospitals Basel
- Universität Konstanz
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Keywords
- childhood adversity, institutionalized children, residential youth care, sleep disorders, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, hair cortisol, psychological well-being, stress, neuroplasticity, long-term effects of childhood trauma, young adults
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Brain, Female, Humans, Male, Sleep, Sleep Wake Disorders, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, Young Adult
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