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The Relationship Of Mid-Pregnancy Levels Of Cytokines, Stress, And Depression With Gestational Age At Delivery, Melissa Molinari Shelton
The Relationship Of Mid-Pregnancy Levels Of Cytokines, Stress, And Depression With Gestational Age At Delivery, Melissa Molinari Shelton
USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Pregnancy is a time of alternating states of inflammation. The establishment of pregnancy is marked by controlled inflammation and transition toward an anti-inflammatory state for much of the gestational period before returning to an inflammatory state at the onset of labor. Stress and depression trigger the HPA Axis to produce cortisol and levels are maintained in a state of elevation during pregnancy and continue to rise before parturition.
The aim of this research was to explore the relationship of gestational age at delivery with mid-pregnancy levels of cytokines, stress and depression. Participant samples (N = 122) were collected between 16 …