title: Anxious women do not show the expected decrease in cardiovascular stress responsiveness as pregnancy advances.
abstract: Altered stress responsiveness is a risk factor for mental and physical illness. In non-pregnant populations, it is well-known that anxiety can alter the physiological regulation of stress reactivity. Characterization of corresponding risks for pregnant women and their offspring requires greater understanding of how stress reactivity and recovery are influenced by pregnancy and women's anxiety feelings. In the current study, women were presented repeatedly with mental arithmetic stress tasks in the first and third pregnancy trimester and reported their trait anxiety using the state trait anxiety inventory. Cardiovascular stress reactivity in late pregnancy was lower than reactivity in the first pregnancy trimester (heart rate (HR): t(197)=4.98, p<.001; high frequency heart rate variability (HF HRV): t(196)=-2.09, p=.04). Less attenuation of stress reactivity occurred in more anxious women (HR: b=0.15, SE=0.06, p=.008; HF HRV: b=-10.97, SE=4.79, p=.02). The study design did not allow the influence of habituation to repeated stress task exposure to be assessed separately from the influence of pregnancy progression. Although this is a limitation, the clear differences between anxious and non-anxious pregnant women are important, regardless of the extent to which differing habituation between the groups is responsible. Less dampened stress reactivity through pregnancy may pose long-term risks for anxious women and their offspring. Follow-up studies are required to determine these risks.
authors: Department of Psychology, Tilburg University, The Netherlands; REVAL Rehabilitation Research Center, Biomedical Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Belgium; Department of Psychology, KU Leuven, Belgium.
authors: M A K A
authors: MA
authors: Braeken
authors: Institute of Cardiovascular Science, University College London, UK.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Jones
authors: Department of Psychology, Tilburg University, The Netherlands.
authors: R A
authors: RA
authors: Otte
authors: Department of Electrical Engineering, ESAT-STADIUS Center for Dynamical Systems, Signal Processing and Data Analytics, KU Leuven, Medical IT, iMinds, Belgium.
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Widjaja
authors: Department of Electrical Engineering, ESAT-STADIUS Center for Dynamical Systems, Signal Processing and Data Analytics, KU Leuven, Medical IT, iMinds, Belgium.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Van Huffel
authors: Fontys University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands.
authors: G J Y J
authors: GJ
authors: Monsieur
authors: Sint Elisabeth Hospital Tilburg, The Netherlands.
authors: C M
authors: CM
authors: van Oirschot
authors: Department of Psychology, Tilburg University, The Netherlands; Department of Psychology, KU Leuven, Belgium; Department of Welfare, Public Health and Family, Flemish Government, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: Bea.vdnBergh@uvt.nl.
authors: B R H
authors: BR
authors: Van den Bergh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011264:Pregnancy Trimesters / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Anxiety; Autonomic nervous system; Heart rate variability; Pregnancy; Stress responsiveness