Maternal postpartum depressive symptoms: The predictive role of objective and subjective birth experience and hair glucocorticoids

Jaramillo, Isabel Cristina; Karl, Marlene; Bergunde, Luisa; Mack, Judith T.; Weise, Victoria; Weidner, Kerstin; Gao, Wei; Steudte-Schmiedgen, Susann; Garthus-Niegel, Susan

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2023.07.034

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Furthermore, Pittner et al ( 2020 ) recently examined hair cortisone (HairE) concentrations, finding elevations due to abuse, whereas no previous study in this context has examined the ratio between HairF and HairE. Thus, considering the enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid-dehydrogenase type 2 (11β-HSD2) converts cortisol to its inactive form cortisone, the additional assessment of HairE concentrations (Stalder et al, 2013 ) and the ratio of HairF/HairE (Scharlau et al, 2018 ) may represent a promising approach to obtain further long-term markers of cortisol metabolism, also in the perinatal period (Bergunde et al, 2022 ; Jaramillo et al, 2023 ; Scharlau et al, 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of maternal childhood maltreatment on postpartum mother–child bonding and maternal hair glucocorticoids

Bergunde,

Karl,

Borrmeister

et al. 2024

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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Background: Maternal experiences of childhood maltreatment (CM) constitute a risk factor for impairments in the mother–child relationship. One mechanism underlying this intergenerational transmission may be maternal hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis dysregulation. Yet, few studies have examined different maltreatment subtypes, including emotional neglect, considered concurrent depressive symptoms, and used long-term integrated glucocorticoid measures. Objective: This study aimed to investigate associations between maternal CM history, postpartum glucocorticoids in hair, and mother–child bonding. In exploratory analyses, we tested whether specific subtypes of CM had differential implications for glucocorticoid secretion and bonding. Methods: During pregnancy, N = 269 mothers from the prospective cohort study DREAM HAIR provided retrospective information on CM and current information regarding psychological and hair-related variables. Hair samples were collected 8 weeks after delivery for quantification of maternal long-term hair cortisol and cortisone concentrations in 2-cm scalp-near hair samples. Mother–child bonding was measured 8 weeks and 14 months after birth using the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire. Results: While bivariate correlations revealed significant associations of CM with bonding and hair cortisol, regression findings showed CM was associated with impaired bonding 8 weeks (overall CM trend-level; emotional neglect p = .038) and 14 months (emotional neglect trend level p = .041) after birth, however not after controlling for depressive symptoms at the time point of the outcome. In regression analyses, CM was not associated with maternal hair glucocorticoids 8 weeks postpartum. Maternal hair glucocorticoid concentrations were not related to mother–child bonding and did not mediate associations between CM and mother–child bonding. Conclusion: Data tentatively suggest that mothers with CM experiences, in particular emotional neglect, may be at risk for suboptimal bonding to their child, however current depressive symptoms seem to be more important. Our data provide no evidence for a crucial role of glucocorticoid secretion, yet aetiological processes of long-term glucocorticoid secretion and bonding are complex and more severely affected samples should be examined.

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