Alexithymic Traits and Hair Cortisol Concentrations in Pregnant Women

Abstract

Introduction: Alexithymia, a personality construct characterized by difficulties in identifying and expressing emotions, and an externally oriented thinking style, has been associated with a number of stress-related disorders, and physiological markers of stress. We examined the relationships of alexithymia and hair cortisol concentrations (HCC), a measure of long-term cortisol levels, in pregnant women. Methods: Participants were 130 women from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort study. Alexithymia was measured with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Analysis of covariance and regression analyses were used to assess the associations between alexithymia and HCC. Educational level, current depressive symptoms, and body mass index (BMI) were applied as covariates. Results: In the adjusted analyses, individuals with moderate to high alexithymic traits had significantly higher HCC (F = 5.11, partial h² = 0.040 , p = 0.026) compared to nonalexithymics. Regression analyses in the whole sample revealed that, of the individual dimensions of alexithymia, Difficulty Identifying Feelings (DIF) was associated with HCC (b = 0.187, t = 2.064, p = 0.041). Conclusions: Alexithymia, and especially its dimension DIF, were associated with higher HCC and, therefore, may be linked to increased chronic physiological stress. Implications for pregnancy outcomes and infant development are discussed.

Correlates of preconception and pregnancy hair cortisol concentrations

“…In bivariate and multivariable analyses, we found that pre-pregnancy BMI was the strongest predictor of HCC before and during pregnancy. This finding is in accordance with some 39 , 44 , 55 , 66 , 74 , 75 , 80 , 81 but not all 38 , 45 , 67 , 77 , 82 , 83 previous studies. To our knowledge, only two studies have investigated the association between HCC and maternal BMI across all three trimesters 40 , 74 with partly conflicting findings.…”

“…The correlation observed between educational level and HCC is similarly inconsistent based on results from previous pregnancy studies. While some studies found a statistically signi cant in uence of educational level on HCC [38][39][40]74,75 , others found no such effect 61,68,76-78 . For example, in a subsample of N = 62 pregnant women from Spain, HCC differed signi cantly regarding educational level across the three trimesters, with participants of higher education showing lower HCC in the rst and second, but not in the third trimester 40 .…”

Decreased Immune Response in Alexithymic Women: A One-Year Longitudinal Study

“…Nevertheless, a stress-alexithymia hypothesis has been proposed (7)(8)(9)(10)(11), with empirical evidence supporting the premise that alexithymic characteristics influence the physiological stress response (9)(10)(11) and immunity (7,8). Alexithymia has been associated with higher tonic or baseline levels of sympathetic activity and lower sympathetic reactivity during acute stress (9)(10)(11) as well as perturbation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axes (12)(13)(14). These subjects may display a dissociation between subjective and physiological stress responses.…”