Systolic blood pressure reactions to acute stress are associated with future hypertension status in the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort Study

These analyses examined the association between blood pressure reactions to acute psychological stress and subsequent hypertension status in a substantial Dutch cohort. Blood pressure was recorded during a resting baseline and during three acute stress tasks, Stroop colour word, mirror tracing and speech. Five years later, diagnosed hypertension status was determined by questionnaire. Participants were 453 (237 women) members of the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort. In analysis adjusting for a number of potential confounders, systolic blood pressure reactivity was positively related to future hypertension. This was the case irrespective of whether reactivity was calculated as the peak or the average response to the stress tasks. The association was strongest for reactions to the speech and Stroop tasks. Diastolic blood pressure reactivity was not significantly associated with hypertension. The results provide support for the reactivity hypothesis. \ud \u

Associations Between Early-Pregnancy Vitamin D Status and Postpartum Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms

Objective: Maternal postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms are risk factors for subsequent maternal and child mental health problems. Little is known about the potential role of antepartum vitamin D and C-reactive protein (CRP) in the etiology of maternal postpartum affective symptoms. We investigated associations between antepartum vitamin D status and postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms and whether antepartum CRP mediated these associations. Methods: In 2483 participants of the Amsterdam Born Children and their Development prospective cohort, maternal serum vitamin D and CRP were measured at a median of 13 weeks’ gestation. Vitamin D status was defined as deficient (≤29.9 nM), insufficient (30–49.9 nM), sufficient (50–79.9 nM), or normal (≥80 nM). Maternal depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression) and anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) were assessed 3 months postpartum. Results: After adjustments for confounders, vitamin D deficiency was only associated with increased postpartum anxiety symptoms (B = 0.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.03–0.30, p = .017) compared to normal vitamin D levels (≥80 nM). In women not taking vitamin D supplementation (n = 2303), vitamin D deficiency was associated with increased postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms (B = 0.14, 95% CI = 0.03–0.28, p = .045; and B = 0.17, 95% CI = 0.03–0.32, p = .015). Antepartum CRP did not mediate these links. Conclusions: We found some evidence that antepartum vitamin D deficiency was associated with increased postpartum affective symptoms, especially in women not taking vitamin D supplementation. Clinical trials should determine whether vitamin D supplementation can reduce the risk for postpartum affective disorders.</p

The behavioural, cognitive, and neural corollaries of blunted cardiovascular and cortisol reactions to acute psychological stress

Recent research shows that blunted cardiovascular and cortisol reactions to acute psychological stress are associated with adverse behavioural and health outcomes: depression, obesity, bulimia, and addictions. These outcomes may reflect suboptimal functioning of the brain’s fronto-limbic systems that are needed to regulate motivated behaviour in the face of challenge. In support of this, brain imaging data demonstrate fronto-limbic hypoactivation during acute stress exposure. Those demonstrating blunted reactions also show impairments of motivation, including lower cognitive ability, more rapid cognitive decline, and poorer performance on motivation-dependent tests of lung function. Persons exhibiting blunted stress reactivity display well established temperament characteristics, including neuroticism and impulsivity, characteristic of various behavioural disorders. Notably, the outcomes related to blunted stress reactivity are similar to those that define Reward Deficiency Syndrome. Accordingly, some individuals may be characterised by a broad failure in cardiovascular and cortisol responding to both stress and reward, reflecting fronto-limbic dysregulation. Finally, we proffer a model of blunted stress reactivity, its antecedents and sequelae, and identify future research priorities

Bidirectional associations of problematic social media use and problematic gaming with mental health difficulties and strengths in adolescents:Sex and social support as potential moderators

The evidence on the direction of associations between mental health and problematic social media use (PSMU) and problematic gaming (PG) in adolescents remains inconclusive. Therefore, this study investigated a comprehensive model of temporal associations between mental health difficulties and strengths, and PSMU/PG, while accounting for sex and perceived social support as potential moderators. Mental health domains were measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, PSMU was measured with the Social Media Disorder Scale, and PG with the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale, assessed at two time points (2019, 2021). The analysis sample consisted of 645 Dutch adolescents (63% boys; Mage = 15.8, SD = 0.3, at Time 1) from the Amsterdam Born Children and their Development cohort. Cross-lagged panel analysis did not indicate general bidirectional associations, but the multigroup analysis revealed separate temporal associations by sex and social support. In girls, emotional problems preceded PSMU and PG. In boys, PG preceded emotional problems and hyperactivity/inattention preceded PSMU. Adolescents with more perceived social support did not show a relationship between emotional problems and subsequent PG. We suggest that emotional problems may be a potential risk factor for PSMU/PG in girls, while they may be considered a negative consequence of PG in boys. Additionally, hyperactivity/inattention may be a risk factor for PSMU in boys, and social support may be a general protective factor for PG. These findings highlight the importance of understanding individual differences in the relationships between PSMU/PG and mental health symptoms.</p

Combining lipidomics and machine learning to measure clinical lipids in dried blood spots

Funder: Joint Programming Initiative A healthy diet for a healthy life; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100013279Abstract: Introduction: Blood-based sample collection is a challenge, and dried blood spots (DBS) represent an attractive alternative. However, for DBSs to be an alternative to venous blood it is important that these samples are able to deliver comparable associations with clinical outcomes. To explore this we looked to see if lipid profile data could be used to predict the concentration of triglyceride, HDL, LDL and total cholesterol in DBSs using markers identified in plasma. Objectives: To determine if DBSs can be used as an alternative to venous blood in both research and clinical settings, and to determine if machine learning could predict ‘clinical lipid’ concentration from lipid profile data. Methods: Lipid profiles were generated from plasma (n = 777) and DBS (n = 835) samples. Random forest was applied to identify and validate panels of lipid markers in plasma, which were translated into the DBS cohort to provide robust measures of the four ‘clinical lipids’. Results: In plasma samples panels of lipid markers were identified that could predict the concentration of the ‘clinical lipids’ with correlations between estimated and measured triglyceride, HDL, LDL and total cholesterol of 0.920, 0.743, 0.580 and 0.424 respectively. When translated into DBS samples, correlations of 0.836, 0.591, 0.561 and 0.569 were achieved for triglyceride, HDL, LDL and total cholesterol. Conclusion: DBSs represent an alternative to venous blood, however further work is required to improve the combined lipidomics and machine learning approach to develop it for use in health monitoring

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic nervous system reactivity in children prenatally exposed to maternal depression:A systematic review of prospective studies

Depression is a common condition affecting up to 20% of all pregnant women, and is associated with subsequent developmental and behavioral problems in children, such as conduct disorder and ADHD. One proposed mechanism underlying these associations is modification of the fetal hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA)-axis and the autonomic nervous system (ANS), resulting in altered responses to stress. This review examined the evidence regarding altered HPA-axis and ANS reactivity in children prenatally exposed to high maternal depressive symptoms. A systematic search was conducted in the electronic databases MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO, for studies published till 25 July 2017. A total of 13 studies comprising 2271 mother-infant dyads were included. None of the studies were suitable for meta-analysis. Risk of bias assessment showed low risk for four studies. Only three studies described an independent association between exposure to high maternal prenatal depressive symptoms and altered stress reactivity in children. There is limited evidence of an independent association between prenatal exposure to maternal depression and altered HPA or ANS reactivity in children

The effects of a pre-conception lifestyle intervention in women with obesity and infertility on perceived stress, mood symptoms, sleep and quality of life

Funding: This research was supported by The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (50-50110-96-518), the Dutch Heart Foundation (Grant number: 2013T085), and the European Commission (Horizon2020 project ‘DynaHealth’, 633595). The department of obstetrics and gynaecology from the UMCG receives an unrestricted educational grant from Ferring Pharmaceutical BV the Netherlands, unrelated to the present study.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Do prenatal factors shape the risk for dementia?:A systematic review of the epidemiological evidence for the prenatal origins of dementia

AbstractPurposePrenatal factors such as maternal stress, infection and nutrition affect fetal brain development and may also influence later risk for dementia. The purpose of this systematic review was to provide an overview of all studies which investigated the association between prenatal factors and later risk for dementia.MethodsWe systematically searched MEDLINE and Embase for original human studies reporting on associations between prenatal factors and dementia from inception to 23 November 2022. Prenatal factors could be any factor assessed during pregnancy, at birth or postnatally, provided they were indicative of a prenatal exposure. Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. We followed PRISMA guidelines for reporting.ResultsA total of 68 studies met eligibility criteria (including millions of individuals), assessing maternal age (N = 30), paternal age (N = 22), birth order (N = 15), season of birth (N = 16), place of birth (N = 13), prenatal influenza pandemic (N = 1) or Chinese famine exposure (N = 1), birth characteristics (N = 3) and prenatal hormone exposure (N = 4). We observed consistent results for birth in a generally less optimal environment (e.g. high infant mortality area) being associated with higher dementia risk. Lower and higher birth weight and prenatal famine exposure were associated with higher dementia risk. The studies on season of birth, digit ratio, prenatal influenza pandemic exposure, parental age and birth order showed inconsistent results and were hampered by relatively high risk of bias.ConclusionOur findings suggest that some prenatal factors, especially those related to a suboptimal prenatal environment, are associated with an increased dementia risk. As these associations may be confounded by factors such as parental socioeconomic status, more research is needed to examine the potential causal role of the prenatal environment in dementia

Cardiovascular reactivity patterns and pathways to hypertension: a multivariate cluster analysis

Substantial evidence links exaggerated mental stress induced blood pressure reactivity to future hypertension, but the results for heart rate reactivity are less clear. For this reason multivariate cluster analysis was carried out to examine the relationship between heart rate and blood pressure reactivity patterns and hypertension in a large prospective cohort (age range 55–60 years). Four clusters emerged with statistically different systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate reactivity patterns. Cluster 1 was characterised by a relatively exaggerated blood pressure and heart rate response while the blood pressure and heart rate responses of cluster 2 were relatively modest and in line with the sample mean. Cluster 3 was characterised by blunted cardiovascular stress reactivity across all variables and cluster 4, by an exaggerated blood pressure response and modest heart rate response. Membership to cluster 4 conferred an increased risk of hypertension at 5-year follow-up (hazard ratio=2.98 (95% CI: 1.50–5.90),

A lifestyle intervention randomized controlled trial in obese women with infertility improved body composition among those who experienced childhood adversity

Funding Information Hartstichting. Grant Number: 2013T085 ZonMw. Grant Number: 50‐50110‐96‐518 European Commission. Grant Number: 633595Peer reviewedPublisher PD