226 - Measures of Postnatal Maternal Psychological Distress are not Correlated with Salivary Cortisol in a Pilot Study of NICU Mothers

Publication Number: 226.6033

Sophia C. Mort, University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital, Minneapolis, MN, United States; Sara E. Ramel, University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital, North Oaks, MN, United States; Emily M. Nagel, University of Minnesota Department of Pediatrics, St Paul, MN, United States

Background: Maternal prenatal stress is linked to preterm delivery and structural and functional alterations in infant brain development. However, there is little research investigating relationships between maternal psychological distress (anxiety, depression and stress) and infant outcomes in the postnatal period. Further, the associations between maternal postnatal perceived and biological distress for mothers of preterm infants has not been thoroughly examined.

Objective: To compare measures of perceived and biological distress at time of discharge within mothers of preterm infants.

Design/Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of mothers and their preterm infants born between 25 + 0 and 34 + 6 weeks gestational age. Maternal perceived psychological distress was assessed using the State Trait Anxiety Index (STAI; continuous score and meets/did not meet clinical cutoff of score >40), metric 1 of Parental Stressor Scale: NICU (PSS:NICU; continuous subscale scores), and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; continuous score and meets/did not meet clinical cutoff score >10) at the time of NICU discharge. Maternal saliva was collected on three evenings during the same week and analyzed for cortisol concentration via immunoassay. Pearson’s Correlations and one-way ANOVAs assessed associations between perceived distress measures and salivary cortisol.

Results: Data from 26 dyads were included. Descriptive statistics of demographics and screening instruments are included in the table. Continuous maternal perceived anxiety (r=0.18, p=0.39) and depression (r=0.16, p=0.47) scores were not correlated with salivary cortisol. Similarly, maternal cortisol levels were not significantly different for participants who met or did not meet criteria for potential anxiety (F(1,22)=0.64, p=0.43) or depression (F(1,22)=0.07, p=0.80). Following the same trend, continuous subscales of the PSS:NICU metric 1 were not correlated with maternal cortisol (sights & sounds, r=0.25, p=0.23; looks & behaves, r=0.13, p=0.54; parental role alteration, r=0.01, p=0.98).

Conclusion(s): In this pilot study, postnatal measures of perceived psychological distress for mothers of preterm infants were not associated with salivary cortisol at NICU discharge. These findings should be confirmed in a larger cohort of mother-infant dyads.

Characteristics of Participants