Association of morningness-eveningness with psychiatric symptoms among pregnant women

ABSTRACT

In the present study, we examined associations between circadian preference and psychiatric symptoms among 1,796 pregnant women from Lima, Peru. One quarter were classified as evening types. Compared to morning types, evening type pregnant women had increased odds of generalized anxiety (OR = 1.44; 95%CI: 1.12–1.86) and posttraumatic stress disorder (OR = 1.38; 95%CI: 1.07–1.78). Although there was a positive trend, evening chronotype was not significantly associated with elevated odds of depression (OR = 1.23; 95%CI: 0.94–1.61). Future studies are warranted to help understand the underlying behavioral, biological, and genetic pathways of these associations. Assessing circadian preference may help clinicians identify pregnant women at risk for psychiatric symptoms.

KEYWORDS:

• Circadian rhythm
• depression
• anxiety
• posttraumatic stress disorder
• pregnancy

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the dedicated staff members of Asociación Civil Proyectos en Salud (PROESA), Perú and Instituto Materno Perinatal, Perú for their expert technical assistance with this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data is available upon request of corresponding author [KA]

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (T37-MD-001449) and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01-HD-059835; R01HD102342)