ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2023
Metabolites of progesterone in pregnancy: Associations with perinatal anxiety.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- The immune phenotype of perinatal anxiety in an anxiety-focused behavioral intervention program in Pakistan.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2024Trial
- Associations of Allopregnanolone and Related Steroid Hormones with Prenatal Psychosocial Distress in the Healthy Start Cohort.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- The role of flower consumption in Howler Monkey Females' diet: adjustment across reproductive states.PeerJ · 2026Article
- The role of neuroactive steroids in psychiatric and neurological disorders: Neurobiology and therapeutic perspectives.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2025Review
- Assessment of emotional status and risk factors in early pregnancy using multidimensional data: a cross-sectional study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Biomarkers of reproductive psychiatric disorders.The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science · 2025Review
- Neuroactive steroid biosynthesis during pregnancy predicts future postpartum depression: a role for the 3α and/or 3β-HSD neurosteroidogenic enzymes?Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Associations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons exposure with perinatal anxiety symptoms.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Global Trends in the Epidemiologic Burden of Anxiety Disorders Among Women of Childbearing Age (1990-2021): Associations with Sociodemographic Index.International journal of women's health · 2025Article
- The changing trend and prediction of the burden of anxiety disorder in Chinese population from 2022 to 2035.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Allopregnanolone and mood in the peripartum: a longitudinal assessment in healthy women.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2024Article
- Estradiol and progesterone from pregnancy to postpartum: a longitudinal latent class analysis.Frontiers in global women's health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAnxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric disorder during the perinatal period and one of the major risk factors for postpartum depression, yet we know little about biological factors in the etiology of perinatal anxiety. A growing literature points to neuroactive steroid (NAS) dysregulation in perinatal mental illness, but directionality has not been clearly demonstrated, results are not consistent, and no studies have investigated NAS in a population with pure anxiety without comorbid depression. We aimed to add to the limited literature by examining the association between anxiety without comorbid depression and metabolic pathways of NAS longitudinally across the peripartum.
methodsWe measured anxiety symptoms by psychological scales and NAS levels using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) at the second and third trimester (T2 and T3) and week 6 postpartum (W6) in n = 36 women with anxiety and n = 38 healthy controls. The anxiety group was determined by a data-driven approach, and cross-sectional and longitudinal statistical methods were used to examine the relationship between the study population and NAS.
resultsWe found that anxiety had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between progesterone and allopregnanolone, with no such effect for the relationships between progesterone and the intermediate (5α-DHP) or isomeric (isoallopregnanolone) compounds in this pathway, and no effects on the corresponding pathway converting progesterone to pregnanolone and epipregnanolone. We also found a less precipitous decline in the ratio of allopregnanolone to progesterone between T3 and W6 in the anxiety group compared to the non-anxiety group. A genotype analysis of a single-nucleotide polymorphism in the AKR1C2 gene demonstrated that the relationship of allopregnanolone to the intermediate metabolite, 5α-DHP, differed by genotype.
conclusionOur exploratory findings indicate that, for pregnant people with anxiety, metabolism is shunted more aggressively toward the endpoint of the progesterone to allopregnanolone metabolic pathway than it is for those without anxiety.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.