Anxiety and depressive symptoms may influence cortisol trajectories in women and men during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Using a multilevel approach, anxiety and depressive symptoms effects on 24-hour urinary free cortisol trajectories from the 2nd trimester to 3-months postpartum were examined in a sample of 66 women and 65 men with no known psychosocial or medical risk (N = 131; 33 (50%) of them were couples that participated in the same assessment waves). Results showed that both anxiety and depressive symptoms influence women's and men's cortisol trajectories from mid-pregnancy to 3-months postpartum. Women with high depressive symptoms and men with high anxiety or high depressive symptoms exhibited less accentuated variations in the 24-hour urinary free cortisol trajectories compared with women with low depressive symptoms and men with low anxiety or depressive symptoms, respectively. These effects were significant for women's cortisol trajectories from the 2nd to the 3rd pregnancy trimester and for men's cortisol trajectories throughout the entire period. The effect of anxiety and depressive symptoms on HPA axis functioning and cortisol production during pregnancy and postpartum, seems to be sex-specific. Reproductive-related alterations (associated with gestation, parturition and lactation) in women's HPA axis functioning may explain these sex-specific effects.

焦虑和抑郁症状可能会影响女性和男性在怀孕期间和产后的皮质醇轨迹。使用多层次方法，在没有已知心理社会或医疗风险的 66 名女性和 65 名男性样本中，研究了焦虑和抑郁症状对从孕中期到产后 3 个月的 24 小时尿游离皮质醇轨迹的影响（N = 131; 其中 33 (50%) 对夫妇参与了相同的评估浪潮）。结果表明，焦虑和抑郁症状都会影响女性和男性从怀孕中期到产后 3 个月的皮质醇轨迹。与具有低抑郁症状的女性和具有低焦虑或抑郁症状的男性相比，具有高度抑郁症状的女性和具有高度焦虑或高度抑郁症状的男性在 24 小时尿游离皮质醇轨迹中表现出的变化较小。这些影响对于从第 2 到第 3 个妊娠三个月的女性皮质醇轨迹和整个时期的男性皮质醇轨迹都很重要。焦虑和抑郁症状对妊娠和产后 HPA 轴功能和皮质醇产生的影响，似乎是特定于性别的。女性 HPA 轴功能的生殖相关改变（与妊娠、分娩和哺乳相关）可以解释这些性别特异性影响。