An investigation of dispositional mindfulness and mood during pregnancy

Background

Mindfulness courses are being offered to numerous groups and while a large body of research has investigated links between dispositional mindfulness and mood, few studies have reported this relationship during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to investigate this relationship in pregnant women to offer insight into whether an intervention which may plausibly increase dispositional mindfulness would be beneficial for this population.

Methods

A cross-sectional analysis was conducted to explore potential relationships between measures of mindfulness and general and pregnancy-specific mood. A sample of pregnant women (n = 363) was recruited using online advertising and community-based recruitment and asked to complete a number of questionnaires online.

Results

Overall, higher levels of mindfulness were associated with improved levels of general and pregnancy-related mood in pregnant women. Controlling for general stress and anxiety, higher scores for mindfulness in (psychologically) healthy women were associated with lower levels of pregnancy-related depression, distress and labour worry but this relationship was not apparent in those with current mental health problems. In participants without children, higher mindfulness levels were related to lower levels of pregnancy-related distress.

Conclusions

These results suggest a promising relationship between dispositional mindfulness and mood though it varies depending on background and current problems. More research is needed, but this paper represents a first step in examining the potential of mindfulness courses for pregnant women. Increasing mindfulness, and therefore completing mindfulness-based courses, is potentially beneficial for improvements in mood during pregnancy.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12884-019-2416-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Effect of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program on stress, anxiety, and childbirth fear in pregnant women diagnosed with COVID-19

Objective

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of a live online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program in preventing distress, anxiety and childbirth fear in pregnant women diagnosed with COVID-19.

Material and methods

Designed as a randomized-controlled trial, this study was performed with the participation of pregnant women who were diagnosed with COVID-19. The sample comprised 84 pregnant women, including 42 in the experimental group and 42 in the control group. The online MBSR program composed of eight sessions and lasting four weeks was provided to the pregnant women in the experimental group, whereas such an initiative was not provided to the control group. The data were collected via the Revised Prenatal Distress Questionnaire (NuPDQ), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Childbirth Attitudes Questionnaire (CAQ).

Results

After the MBSR program, the mean NuPDQ, BAI and CAQ scores of the pregnant women in the experimental group were significantly lower than the mean scores of those in the control group (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The online MBSR program may be utilized to reduce the distress, anxiety and childbirth fear levels of pregnant women diagnosed with COVID-19. By using the MBSR program, health professionals might improve the psychological well-being of pregnant women diagnosed with COVID-19.

Regulatory T-cell phenotypes in prenatal psychological distress

BACKGROUND

Experiencing symptoms of psychological distress during pregnancy is common and has been linked to dysregulated immune functioning. In this context, immunoregulatory function is especially relevant because of its crucial role in establishment and maintenance of healthy pregnancy. However, little research has examined associations between women's prenatal psychological distress and immunoregulatory biomarkers. We investigated how symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress relate to circulating levels of regulatory T-cells (Tregs).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Pregnant Latina women were assessed at around 12 weeks of pregnancy (N = 82). These assessments included blood draws and self-report questionnaires assessing symptoms of depression, state anxiety, pregnancy-related anxiety, and perceived stress. Flow cytometry on PBMCs was used to quantify circulating Tregs, defined as CD3+CD4+CD25hiCD127loFoxP3+, and subpopulations positive for one of the following intra- or extracellular markers, CD45RA, CTLA-4, Helios, PD-1, TIM-3, and TIGIT. We collected 82 samples at 12 weeks. Multivariable linear regressions tested for associations between symptoms of psychological distress and Treg concentrations, adjusted for gestational age.

RESULTS

State anxiety symptoms at 12 weeks were negatively associated with parent Treg cell levels (b = -4.02, p = 0.023) and subpopulations Helios+ (b = -3.29, p = 0.019) and TIM3+ (b = -3.17, p = 0.008). Perceived stress was negatively associated with the PD-1+ subpopulation at 12 weeks (b = -4.02, p = 0.023). Depression was not related to Tregs or the subpopulations.

CONCLUSION

Our observation that symptoms of anxiety and stress are related to tolerogenic immunology suggests a possible biomechanism explaining correlations of maternal mood disorders with adverse outcomes for mothers and offspring.

Mothers' prenatal distress accelerates adrenal pubertal development in daughters

Human life history schedules vary, partly, because of adaptive, plastic responses to early-life conditions. Little is known about how prenatal conditions relate to puberty timing. We hypothesized that fetal exposure to adversity may induce an adaptive response in offspring maturational tempo. In a longitudinal study of 253 mother-child dyads followed for 15 years, we investigated if fetal exposure to maternal psychological distress related to children's adrenarche and gonadarche schedules, assessed by maternal and child report and by dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), testosterone, and estradiol levels. We found fetal exposure to elevated maternal prenatal psychological distress predicted earlier adrenarche and higher DHEA-S levels in girls, especially first-born girls, and that associations remained after covarying indices of postnatal adversity. No associations were observed for boys or for gonadarche in girls. Adrenarche orchestrates the social-behavioral transition from juvenility to adulthood; therefore, significant findings for adrenarche, but not gonadarche, suggest that prenatal maternal distress instigates an adaptive strategy in which daughters have earlier social-behavioral maturation. The stronger effect in first-borns suggests that, in adverse conditions, it is in the mother's adaptive interest for her daughter to hasten social maturation, but not necessarily sexual maturation, because it would prolong the duration of the daughter allomothering younger siblings. We postulate a novel evolutionary framework that human mothers may calibrate the timing of first-born daughters' maturation in a way that optimizes their own reproductive success.