The cortisol awakening response is blunted in healthy women early postpartum
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The cortisol awakening response is blunted in healthy women early postpartum. / Høgh, Stinne; Lange, Emilie; Høgsted, Emma S.; Larsen, Kristian; Hegaard, Hanne K.; Borgsted, Camilla; Frokjaer, Vibe G.
I: Psychoneuroendocrinology, Bind 165, 107048, 2024.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The cortisol awakening response is blunted in healthy women early postpartum
AU - Høgh, Stinne
AU - Lange, Emilie
AU - Høgsted, Emma S.
AU - Larsen, Kristian
AU - Hegaard, Hanne K.
AU - Borgsted, Camilla
AU - Frokjaer, Vibe G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Introduction: The dynamic capacity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis supports healthy adaptions to stress and play a key role in maintaining mental health. Perinatal adaptations in the HPA-axis dynamics in terms of the Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR), may be involved in dysregulation of perinatal mental health. We aimed to determine if CAR and absolute evening cortisol early postpartum differed from non-perinatal women and evaluate the association between the CAR and maternal mental well-being. Methods: The CAR was computed as the area under the curve with respect to increase from baseline from serial home-sampling of saliva across 0–60 minutes from awakening. We evaluated differences in CAR and absolute evening cortisol between postpartum women (N=50, mean postpartum days: 38, SD: ±11) and non-perinatal women (N=91) in a multiple linear regression model. We also evaluated the association between CAR and maternal mental well-being in a multiple linear regression model. Results: We found that healthy postpartum women had a blunted CAR (p<0.001) corresponding to 84% reduction and 80% lower absolute evening cortisol (p<0.001) relative to non-perinatal healthy women. In the postpartum group, there was a trend-level association between lower CAR and higher scores on the WHO Well-Being Index (WHO-5) (p=0.048) and lower Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores (p=0.04). Conclusion: Our data emphasize the unique hormonal landscape during the postpartum period in terms of blunted CAR and lower absolute evening cortisol in healthy women early postpartum compared to non-perinatal. Our findings show a potential association between a reduced CAR and improved mental well-being during early motherhood, which suggests that reduced CAR might reflect healthy adjustment to early motherhood.
AB - Introduction: The dynamic capacity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis supports healthy adaptions to stress and play a key role in maintaining mental health. Perinatal adaptations in the HPA-axis dynamics in terms of the Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR), may be involved in dysregulation of perinatal mental health. We aimed to determine if CAR and absolute evening cortisol early postpartum differed from non-perinatal women and evaluate the association between the CAR and maternal mental well-being. Methods: The CAR was computed as the area under the curve with respect to increase from baseline from serial home-sampling of saliva across 0–60 minutes from awakening. We evaluated differences in CAR and absolute evening cortisol between postpartum women (N=50, mean postpartum days: 38, SD: ±11) and non-perinatal women (N=91) in a multiple linear regression model. We also evaluated the association between CAR and maternal mental well-being in a multiple linear regression model. Results: We found that healthy postpartum women had a blunted CAR (p<0.001) corresponding to 84% reduction and 80% lower absolute evening cortisol (p<0.001) relative to non-perinatal healthy women. In the postpartum group, there was a trend-level association between lower CAR and higher scores on the WHO Well-Being Index (WHO-5) (p=0.048) and lower Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores (p=0.04). Conclusion: Our data emphasize the unique hormonal landscape during the postpartum period in terms of blunted CAR and lower absolute evening cortisol in healthy women early postpartum compared to non-perinatal. Our findings show a potential association between a reduced CAR and improved mental well-being during early motherhood, which suggests that reduced CAR might reflect healthy adjustment to early motherhood.
KW - Cortisol
KW - Cortisol Awakening Response
KW - Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis
KW - Postpartum depression
KW - Postpartum well-being
KW - Stress hormone dynamics
U2 - 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107048
DO - 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107048
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 38657341
AN - SCOPUS:85190816075
VL - 165
JO - Psychoneuroendocrinology
JF - Psychoneuroendocrinology
SN - 0306-4530
M1 - 107048
ER -
ID: 391140600