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DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1605838
Self-reported stress and mood disorders, hair cortisol, and cortisone in women in the first year postpartum – the Ulm SPATZ Health Study
Publication History
Publication Date:
01 September 2017 (online)
Background:
Maternal hair cortisol concentrations are increasingly suggested as a biomarker of chronic stress exposure and may provide further insight into the impact of maternal stress on child development. However, no consistent association between self-reports of stress or mood disorders and hair cortisol was found. Although potentially a more stable marker of systemic glucocorticoid levels, hair cortisone concentrations have less often been investigated in this context. Methods: Maternal self-reported chronic stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression were assessed in a birth cohort study recruited from 04/2012 – 05/2013 in Ulm, Germany, from the general population 6 and 12 months postpartum (n = 970 mothers). Maternal hair cortisol and cortisone concentrations were determined at both time points in the scalp-near 3 cm hair segments (n = 515). Spearman correlation coefficients between self-reported stress or mood disorders and the glucocorticoid levels were calculated.
Results:
Correlations between self-reported stress or mood disorders and cortisol were weak (r≤0.10) at 6 months postpartum with the strongest correlation between symptoms of depression and cortisol (p = 0.02) and r≤0.05 at 12 months postpartum, each p ≥0.25. Correlations between hair cortisone and self-reports were similarly low, albeit a statistically significant correlation was revealed between chronic stress and cortisone concentrations (r = 0.10, p = 0.03, 6 months postpartum). Also, changes in symptoms of stress or mood disorders across the two time points were not correlated with changes in hair cortisol or cortisone concentrations.
Conclusions:
Although adjusted and stratified analyses considering covariates are planned, it is unlikely that potential confounders or modifiers will substantially alter the null-correlations we observed between cortisol, cortisone, and self-reported stress or mood disorders. One reason may be the on avarage at best moderate stress levels in our population.