Claudia Lazarides1, Elizabeth Ben Ward2, Claudia Buss3, Wen-Pin Chen2, Manuel C Voelkle4, Daniel L Gillen5, Pathik D Wadhwa6, Sonja Entringer7. 1. Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Institute of Psychological Medicine, Germany. 2. Department of Statistics, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA. 3. Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Institute of Psychological Medicine, Germany; Development, Health and Disease Research Program, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA. 4. Humboldt-University of Berlin, Faculty of Life Science, Department of Psychology, Psychological Research Methods, Berlin, Germany. 5. Development, Health and Disease Research Program, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA; Department of Statistics, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA. 6. Development, Health and Disease Research Program, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA; Departments of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA. Electronic address: pwadhwa@uci.edu. 7. Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Institute of Psychological Medicine, Germany; Development, Health and Disease Research Program, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA. Electronic address: sonja.entringer@charite.de.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Although the linkage between psychological stress and cortisol is believed to mediate the association of stress with health outcomes, several studies have been unable to demonstrate this association. We suggest this inability may be a consequence of limitations in the measurement approach and/or reliance on analytic strategies that focus on associations across, rather than within individuals. The link between psychological stress and cortisol is of particular interest in the context of pregnancy and fetal development. Using an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design, we examined the association between psychological stress and cortisol at the between- and the within-person level. METHODS: 152 participants completed a 4-day long EMA protocol serially in early, mid and late pregnancy to provide momentary stress appraisals (average of 150 measures/subject) and saliva samples (average of 55 samples/subject) for quantification of cortisol. The association between stress and cortisol was estimated using linear mixed models. RESULTS: After accounting for the effects of key determinants of variation in cortisol, momentary stress was significantly and positively associated with cortisol at the within-person level (B = .030, p = .031), but not at the between-person level. No association was evident for traditional retrospective measures of stress with cortisol at either the between- or the within-person level. CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights the value of EMA methods and linear mixed-modeling approaches in linking maternal psychological and physiological states across pregnancy. These findings may have important implications for the development of personalized risk identification and "just-in-time" intervention strategies to optimize maternal and child health.
BACKGROUND: Although the linkage between psychological stress and cortisol is believed to mediate the association of stress with health outcomes, several studies have been unable to demonstrate this association. We suggest this inability may be a consequence of limitations in the measurement approach and/or reliance on analytic strategies that focus on associations across, rather than within individuals. The link between psychological stress and cortisol is of particular interest in the context of pregnancy and fetal development. Using an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design, we examined the association between psychological stress and cortisol at the between- and the within-person level. METHODS: 152 participants completed a 4-day long EMA protocol serially in early, mid and late pregnancy to provide momentary stress appraisals (average of 150 measures/subject) and saliva samples (average of 55 samples/subject) for quantification of cortisol. The association between stress and cortisol was estimated using linear mixed models. RESULTS: After accounting for the effects of key determinants of variation in cortisol, momentary stress was significantly and positively associated with cortisol at the within-person level (B = .030, p = .031), but not at the between-person level. No association was evident for traditional retrospective measures of stress with cortisol at either the between- or the within-person level. CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights the value of EMA methods and linear mixed-modeling approaches in linking maternal psychological and physiological states across pregnancy. These findings may have important implications for the development of personalized risk identification and "just-in-time" intervention strategies to optimize maternal and child health.
Authors: Sabine R Kunz-Ebrecht; Clemens Kirschbaum; Michael Marmot; Andrew Steptoe Journal: Psychoneuroendocrinology Date: 2004-05 Impact factor: 4.905
Authors: Jennifer E Khoury; Andrea Gonzalez; Robert D Levitan; Jens C Pruessner; Kevin Chopra; Vincenzo Santo Basile; Mario Masellis; Alasdair Goodwill; Leslie Atkinson Journal: Neurobiol Stress Date: 2015-04-30
Authors: Alice M Graham; Olivia Doyle; Ellen L Tilden; Elinor L Sullivan; Hanna C Gustafsson; Mollie Marr; Madeleine Allen; Kristen L Mackiewicz Seghete Journal: Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging Date: 2021-10-27
Authors: Nora K Moog; Saara Nolvi; Theresa S Kleih; Martin Styner; John H Gilmore; Jerod M Rasmussen; Christine M Heim; Sonja Entringer; Pathik D Wadhwa; Claudia Buss Journal: Neurobiol Stress Date: 2021-07-16