Innate Immune Activation and Depressive and Anxious Symptoms across the Peripartum: An Exploratory Study

Perinatal depressive and anxious symptoms affect up to 15% of women in high-income countries and 20-40% of women in the developing world (Gaynes et al., 2005; World Health Organization, 2009); they can be debilitating and result in adverse outcomes for both mother and child (Skogen& Overland, 2012; Bianco-Miatto et al., 2017). Research on the pathophysiology of perinatal depression and anxiety has focused on hormonal imbalance, the role of monoamines, dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis (Gold and Chrousos, 2002; Kammerer et al., 2006), and contributions of the immune system (Osborne& Monk, 2013; Sherer et al., 2017).

Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - August 31, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Lauren M. Osborne, Gayane Yenokyan, Kezhen Fei, Thomas Kraus, Thomas Moran, Catherine Monk, Rhoda Sperling Source Type: research