Association of Depressed Mood With Herpes Simplex Virus-2 Immunoglobulin-G Levels in Pregnancy.

Psychosom Med

From the College of Nursing (Hsu, Beckie, Munro, Groer), University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida; School of Medicine, Stanley Virology Laboratory (Yolken), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; and School of Medicine, University of Maryland (Postolache), Baltimore, Maryland, and the Rocky Mountain MIRECC, Denver, Colorado.

Published: October 2016

Objective: Depressed mood is common in pregnancy, is associated with stress, and could result in immune suppression that may lead to latent herpes viral reactivation. This study investigated whether depressed mood is associated with higher herpes viral IgG levels in pregnant women.

Methods: Complete cross-sectional data from 247 pregnant women were available for this substudy. The data included demographics, scores on the Perceived Stress Scale and Profile of Mood States (POMS), and a panel of serum IgG levels for human herpesviruses.

Results: Only the herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) (genital herpes) IgG level was associated with Perceived Stress Scale and POMS-Depression/Dejection (POMS-D) score. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to examine the association of POMS-D with herpesviral IgG levels adjusting for demographic variables. In the final model, African American race (β = .251, p < .001), older age (β = .199, p = .002), single marital status (β = -.304, p < .001), and depressed mood (β = .122, p = .04) were associated with HSV-2 IgG levels. In logistic regression, the strongest correlates of HSV IgG positivity were single marital status, followed by POMS-D scores and African American race.

Conclusion: Genital herpes is a concern in pregnancy. Antibody titers may indicate asymptomatic viral shedding, viral reactivation, or primary viral infection. Antibody levels may be higher because of the immune changes during pregnancy and potential immune effects of depressed mood causing reactivation of latent HSV-2.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5067962PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000000374DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

depressed mood
20
igg levels
16
herpes simplex
8
herpes viral
8
viral reactivation
8
perceived stress
8
stress scale
8
genital herpes
8
african american
8
single marital
8

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!