title: The correlation between Toxoplasma gondii infection and prenatal depression in pregnant women.
abstract: Previous studies have demonstrated that latent toxoplasmosis is associated with neuropsychiatric disorders. We evaluated the correlation between Toxoplasma gondii infection and prenatal depression. In this case-control study, we enrolled 116 depressed pregnant women and 244 healthy controls. The Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) was used to evaluate the depression symptom severity in study participants. All participants were screened for the anti-Toxoplasma IgG by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Seroprevalence of T. gondii did not significantly differ between the depressed pregnant women and healthy controls (OR = 1.4; 95 % CI = 0.9-2.19; P = 0.142). T. gondii IgG titer was significantly higher in depressed women (18.6 ± 10.9 IUs) than those in the control group (13.6 ± 8.1 IUs) (z = -5.36, P < 0.001). The T. gondii-positive depressed women showed a positive correlation of T. gondii IgG titer with the EPDS scores (r = 0.52; P < 0.01). The mean EPDS score was also significantly higher in the T. gondii-positive depressed women (20.7 ± 2.7) compared with the controls (18.36 ± 2.7) (P < 0.001). The results obtained from the current study revealed that T. gondii infection might affect susceptibility to depression and severity of depressive symptoms in pregnant women, particularly in those patients who have high antibody titers. Further study is required to fully elucidate the characteristics and mechanisms of this association.
authors: Department of Midwifery and Reproductive Health, Nursing and Midwifery School, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Nourollahpour Shiadeh
authors: Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Alirostami1984@gmail.com.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Rostami
authors: Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors: B D
authors: BD
authors: Pearce
authors: Department of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Faculty of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Iran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.|Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Gholipourmalekabadi
authors: Departments of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Obstetrics & Gynecology, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA.
authors: D J
authors: DJ
authors: Newport
authors: Department of Midwifery and Reproductive Health, Nursing and Midwifery School, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Danesh
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Mehravar
authors: Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: S J
authors: SJ
authors: Seyyedtabaei
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000150:complications*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D007074:Immunoglobulin G