Relationship of Anxiety, Inflammation, and Telomere Length in Postpartum Women: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Background: The postpartum period can be a vulnerable time during which many women are prone to mood disturbances. Since telomere length (TL) is known to be associated with dysphoric moods, inflammation, and stress in many populations, this study’s objective was to assess the relationships among TL, dysphoric moods, stress, and inflammation during the postpartum period. Method: This cross-sectional pilot study is a secondary analysis of data collected in a larger parent study of anti-thyroid peroxidase (TPO) enzyme antibody positive versus negative women. The parent study followed selected mothers every month for 6 postpartum months. From this parent study, a random sample of preserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 97 participants collected at 2–4 months postpartum were measured for TL. Data were available on the production of interleukin-6 (IL-6), an inflammatory cytokine, in stimulated ex vivo cultures for 59 of these women. Dysphoric moods and stress were measured. Pearson correlations and linear regressions were performed, controlling for postpartum thyroiditis status and age. Results: There were no statistically significant relationships between TL and demographic factors, stress, depression, or TPO status. There were significant negative correlations between TL and anxiety and a trend for a relationship between TL and IL-6 levels. IL-6 levels were significantly, positively associated with negative moods. Conclusions: Higher anxiety scores and inflammation were associated with shorter TL. Inflammation was related to anxiety and other dysphoric moods and was marginally associated with shorter TLs.

Telomere Shortening and Psychiatric Disorders: A Systematic Review

“…Four studies were cross-sectional articles, four studies were case-control articles and three were longitudinal studies (Table 3). Seven studies (9103 patients) observed a negative association between TL and anxiety [21,26,31,34,35,68,69], while only one study observed a positive association (132 patients) [42]. One study (1164 patients) reported conflicting results [11] while the two last studies (838 patients) did not observe any association [70,71].…”

“…A total of 11 studies (11,237 patients) assessed the relationship between anxiety and TL [11,21,26,31,34,35,42,[68][69][70][71]. Four studies were cross-sectional articles, four studies were case-control articles and three were longitudinal studies (Table 3).…”

“…Most studies suggest that current anxiety disorder is associated with shorter TL [21,26,31,34,35,68,69]. This relationship likely represents one's predisposition to develop anxiety as a long-term consequence of TL [21,26].…”

Linking the Triad of Telomere Length, Inflammation, and Gut Dysbiosis in the Manifestation of Depression

“…Inflammatory cytokines such as CRP and IL-6 were also found to be predictive of cognitive symptoms of depression in a 12-year follow-up study . The increased levels of peripheral proinflammatory mediators such as CRP, TNF-α, and IL-6 negatively impact the psychopathology of depression, anxiety, and leukocyte TL (LTL). − Thus, inflammation plays a critical role in the manifestation of depression and its long-term sequelae (Table ).…”

Anxiety is associated with coronary microvascular dysfunction: Results from the CAMADA study

“…Our previous study confirmed that plasma chromogranin A levels were increased in health workers with anxiety or depression, and chromogranin A is regarded as an indicator of sympathetic tone and adrenomedullary system activity, indicated sympathetic overactivation in patients with anxiety or depression. 22 Fan et al 23 found increased levels of TNFα and IL-6 in patients with depression, while Groer et al 24 demonstrated a significant increase in IL-6 levels in patients with postpartum anxiety.…”