Maternal hair cortisol concentrations across pregnancy and the early postpartum period in a Puerto Rican sample.
Am J Hum Biol
; 34(11): e23718, 2022 11.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35001460
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Hair cortisol is a noninvasive, long-term biomarker of human stress. Strengths and weaknesses of this biomarker as a proxy measure of perinatal stress are not yet well understood. Hair cortisol data were collected from pregnant women in Puerto Rico to investigate maternal cortisol level variance across pregnancy.METHODS:
In 2017, we recruited 86 pregnant women planning to birth at a large urban hospital. We aimed to collect four hair samples from each participant, one in each trimester and one in the postpartum period.RESULTS:
Median cortisol in the first trimester (n = 82) was 5.7 picograms/milligram (pg/mg) (range 1.0-62.4). In the second, third, and postpartum periods, the medians were 6.8 pg/mg (1.0-69.5), (n = 46), 20.1 pg/mg (5.6-89.0), (n = 30), and 14.1 pg/mg (1.7-39.8), (n = 9), respectively. These medians disguise a 10-fold and 50-fold variability for two participants. Our sample sizes declined sharply when Hurricane Maria caused major disruptions in services and participants' lives.CONCLUSION:
Maternal hair cortisol concentrations were lower in the first and second trimester than the third trimester and early postpartum period. We also observed a wide range of variation in cortisol levels throughout pregnancy and in the postpartum period.
Texto completo:
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Hidrocortisona
/
Cabelo
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article