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Stress, Depression, And Inflammatory Immune Responses During Pregnancy

Christian, Lisa M.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1211218519

Abstract Details

2008, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Psychology.
Psychosocial stress and depressive symptoms predict increased risk of negative perinatal outcomes including preterm delivery and gestational hypertension. Inflammation is a key potential mechanism by which stress and depressive symptoms may influence such outcomes. The current study examined associations among stress, depressive symptoms, and inflammation during pregnancy. It was hypothesized that women reporting greater stress and/or depressive symptoms would exhibit higher serum levels of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) and exhibit an exaggerated IL-6 response upon exposure to an antigen challenge of influenza vaccination. Psychosocial factors and serum levels of interleukin-6 were assessed prior to vaccination (n=60) at 1-2 weeks post-vaccination (n=37) in a sample of pregnant women. Of the 60 women who completed the baseline session, the majority were African-American (57%), had completed high school or less education (82%), and reported a total annual family income of less than $15,000 per year (63%). Psychosocial measures included the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Results demonstrated that 31 women (52%) scored at or above a clinical cut-off for depressive symptoms. Serum levels of IL-6 were determined using high sensitivity immunoassays. Regression analyses indicated that after controlling for body mass index (BMI) prior to pregnancy, higher scores on the CES-D were predictive of higher levels of IL-6 at baseline (β=.23, p=.05). There was no significant change in IL-6 from baseline to the post-vaccination timepoint (p > .05). Moreover, neither stress nor depressive symptoms predicted IL-6 responses to vaccination (ps > .05). In sum, the current results indicate that depressive symptoms predict higher levels of maternal serum IL-6 during pregnancy. These data are consistent with the contention that depressive symptoms may contribute to negative perinatal outcomes via inflammatory pathways.
Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, PhD (Advisor)
Charles Emery, PhD (Committee Member)
Steven Beck, PhD (Committee Member)
Courtney DeVries, PhD (Committee Member)
127 p.
Immunology; Psychology
stress; depression; depressive symptoms; inflammation; IL-6; interleukin-6; pregnancy

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Christian, L. M. (2008). Stress, Depression, And Inflammatory Immune Responses During Pregnancy [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1211218519

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Christian, Lisa. Stress, Depression, And Inflammatory Immune Responses During Pregnancy. 2008. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1211218519.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Christian, Lisa. "Stress, Depression, And Inflammatory Immune Responses During Pregnancy." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1211218519

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1211218519
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© 2008, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.