Trajectories of stress biomarkers and anxious-depressive symptoms from pregnancy to postpartum period in women with a trauma history
Open accessAbstract
Background: Cross-sectional studies have found that a trauma history can be associated with anxious-depressive symptomatology and physiological stress dysregulation in pregnant women.Methods: This prospective study examines the trajectories of both anxiety and depressive symptoms and salivary cortisol and α-amylase biomarkers from women with (n = 42) and without (n = 59) a trauma history at (i) 38th week of gestation (T1), (ii) 48 hours after birth (T2), and (iii) three months after birth (T3).Results: The quantile regression model showed that trauma history was associated with higher cortisol levels at T1 and this difference was sustained along T2 and T3. Conversely, there were no significant differences in α-amylase levels between groups across the three time points and both groups showed an increase in α-amylase levels from T2 to T3. The ordinal mixed model showed that trauma history was associated with higher anxiety symptoms at T1 and this remained constant from T1 to T2 but was reversed from T2 to T3. In contrast, both groups showed similar depressive symptoms across the three time points.Conclusions: Whereas physiological stress dysregulation (in terms of higher cortisol levels) was maintained from pregnancy to postpartum period, pregnancy and childbirth were the most vulnerable stages for developing anxious symptoms in mothers with trauma history.
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Exposure to traumatic stress before or during pregnancy is a significant risk factor for developing peripartum depression and anxiety and may result in less favorable outcomes for child development, family functioning, and physiological stress dysregulation.
“Exposure to (traumatic) stress before or during pregnancy is a significant risk factor for developing peripartum depression and anxiety and may result in less favorable outcomes for child development, family functioning, and physiological stress dysregulation [32–34].”
From Effectiveness of a guided ACT-based self-help resilience training for depressive symptoms during pregnancy: Study protocol of a randomized controlled trial embedded in a prospective cohort. (2020) · cites this paper as [34]
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- Authors
- Ghosn, F., Almansa, B., Moreno-Giménez, A., Sahuquillo-Leal, R., Serrano-Lozano, E., Hervás, D., Diago, V., Cháfer-Pericás, C., Vento, M., & García Blanco, A.
- Affiliations
- Universitat de València (ES)
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria La Fe (ES)
- Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe (ES)
- Neonatal Research Unit, Health Research Institute La Fe, Valencia, Spain
- Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
- ORCID
- Venue
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-04-29
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1601990-1601990
- ISSN
- 2000-8066 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6493226
- OpenAlex
- W2942632539
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 1.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III (JR17/00003)
- ISCIII (FIS PI17/0131, CP16/00082)
- RETICS (PN 2018-2011)
- European Regional Development Fund (RD16/0022/0001)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions
- Keywords
- trauma history, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, salivary cortisol, salivary amylase, pregnancy, postpartum period, childbirth, maternal mental health, symptom trajectories
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