Prenatal mood and anxiety disorders and associated cytokine changes

Roberta A Mancuso; Kharah M Ross; Eynav Accortt; Mary Coussons-Read; Michele L Okun; Jessica Irwin; Judith Carroll; Calvin J Hobel; Christine Dunkel Schetter

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2023.12.014

Prenatal mood and anxiety disorders and associated cytokine changes

J Affect Disord. 2024 Feb 15:347:635-644. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.12.014. Epub 2023 Dec 7.

Authors

Roberta A Mancuso¹, Kharah M Ross², Eynav Accortt³, Mary Coussons-Read⁴, Michele L Okun⁵, Jessica Irwin⁶, Judith Carroll⁷, Calvin J Hobel⁸, Christine Dunkel Schetter⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Regis University, Denver, CO, USA. Electronic address: rmancuso@regis.edu.
² Centre for Social Sciences, Athabasca University, Athabasca, AB, Canada.
³ Reproductive Psychology Program, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Colorado - Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO, USA.
⁵ Sleep and Biobehavioral Health Research Laboratory, University of Colorado - Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychology, University of La Verne, La Verne, CA, USA.
⁷ Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁸ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁹ Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

PMID: 38070749
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.12.014

Abstract

Background: We examined whether women with prenatal mood and anxiety disorders would exhibit differential pro- and anti-inflammatory marker trajectories during the prenatal and postpartum periods compared to women without these disorders.

Methods: Approximately 179 pregnant women participated in a longitudinal study conducted in two urban areas. Blood samples for inflammatory markers were collected at six study visits. The Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV (SCID) was administered to participants scoring above cutoffs on anxiety and depression. Pregnant women with SCID Axis I diagnoses of mood and/or anxiety disorders were compared to other participants on inflammatory markers. Multilevel modeling tested associations between SCID diagnoses and within-person interleukin (IL)6 and IL10 trajectories.

Results: Prenatal SCID diagnoses were associated with linear, quadratic and cubic change in IL6 from prenatal to postpartum timepoints. Women with a prenatal SCID diagnosis had steeper decreases and increases in IL6 during prenatal and postpartum periods. SCID diagnoses were associated with lower IL10 in mid-pregnancy to postpartum (b = -0.078, SE = 0.019; p = .015).

Limitations: Future studies would benefit from a larger sample size and a larger number of participants with SCID diagnoses. Future research should also examine whether different prenatal Axis 1 diagnoses are associated with different patterns of immune response in pregnancy.

Conclusions: Pregnant women with prenatal mood and anxiety disorders had greater fluctuations in IL6 across prenatal and postpartum periods and lower IL10 through pregnancy and postpartum. They may have different proinflammatory states that remain after birth without a reciprocal anti-inflammatory response.

Keywords: Anxiety disorder; IL-10; IL-6; Mood disorder; Pregnancy; SCID.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Anti-Inflammatory Agents
Anxiety
Anxiety Disorders / diagnosis
Cytokines
Depression
Depression, Postpartum* / diagnosis
Female
Humans
Interleukin-10
Interleukin-6
Longitudinal Studies
Mood Disorders
Postpartum Period
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications*

Substances

Cytokines
Interleukin-6
Interleukin-10
Anti-Inflammatory Agents

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding