Cortisol and DHEA-S levels in pregnant women with severe anxiety
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BioMed Central
Abstract
Description
Background: A complex interaction between cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulphate (DHEA-S) is crucial in the
stress system balance; several studies have reported increased cortisol levels during chronic stress and a weak counterregulation by DHEA-S. During pregnancy, scarce information about this system is available, although cortisol and
DHEA-S play an important role in the initiation and acceleration of labor. We conducted the present study in order to
determine both cortisol and DHEA-S levels during the last trimester of pregnancy in patients exhibiting severe anxiety.
Methods: Pregnant women during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy were evaluated by using the self-reported version
of the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS). According to the scores obtained from the psychometric scale,
participants were divided into two groups: 1) patients exhibiting a cutoff score > 15 were considered with severe
anxiety (ANX) (n = 101), and control pregnant subjects (CTRL) (n = 44) with a cutoff score < 5. Morning cortisol, DHEA-S
and Cortisol/DHEA-S index were measured in all participants. Comparisons between groups were performed;
additionally, correlations between clinical variables, biochemical data and HARS were calculated.
Results: Cortisol levels were significantly higher in the ANX group (p < 0.001), whereas those of DHEA-S were
significantly lower in the same group (p < 0.01) when compared to healthy pregnant subjects. An increased cortisol/
DHEA-S index was observed in the ANX group (p < 0.05). A significant association between cortisol and HARS scores
(p = 0.03), was observed even after adjusting by gestational weeks (p = 0.004).
Conclusions: Our data support that the cortisol/DHEA-S index is higher in pregnant women with high anxiety levels as
compared with healthy pregnant women.