1998 Curt P. Richter Award - Pregnancy, the postpartum, and steroid hormones: effects on cognition and mood

The effects of pregnancy on cognition and mood were examined using a repeat ed-measures design. Nineteen women, average age 33, were tested with a comp rehensive neuropsychological battery during their last 2 months of pregnanc y and again within 2 months of delivery. Blood samples were obtained from a ll subjects and assayed for a variety of steroid hormones implicated in cog nitive and mood functioning. Most participants also completed several self- report measures of mood. In comparison with performance after delivery, wom en showed significantly more impairment in aspects of verbal memory during pregnancy and also tended to report more negative mood states. Memory defic its were not explained by mood disturbances. no hormone assayed consistentl y related to cognitive performance during pregnancy. During pregnancy, high er levels of progesterone (P) were associated with greater mood disturbance s and higher levels of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) with better mood. Afte r delivery, testosterone (T) was strongly and consistently associated with greater reported mood disturbances. Our results confirm a peripartal memory deficit, which cannot be explained by the dramatic rise in circulating ste roid hormones, or by mood status during pregnancy. Steroidal hormones, name ly P, DHEA and T, appear to play a role in mood disturbances during, and af ter, pregnancy. Studies beginning earlier in pregnancy and continuing for a n extended period of time after delivery are needed to confirm and expand t hese observations. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.