Moderate anxiety, whether acute or chronic, is not associated with ovarian suppression in healthy, well‐nourished, Western women

Bibliographic Data

ID8319261
AuthorsPeter M Elias (0000-0002-0069-9064, Harvard University), Peter T Ellison, Susan F Lipson (Jagiellonian University), G Jasienska (0000-0001-8716-6342, Jagiellonian University), Pippi L Ellison, Pippi Ellison (Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology)
Year2007
Volume134
Issue4
Pages513-519
Publication date2007-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.20698
PMID17786990
OpenAlexW2118378034
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited45

The relationship between psychological stress and reduced fecundity has been a matter of speculation and investigation for decades. Most previous studies have been compromised, however, by a number of problems including ambiguous direction of causation, poorly operationalized variables, and the confounding of psychological with energetic stress. We present a two‐part study of the relationship between moderate anxiety, both acute and chronic, and daily measures of ovarian steroid and corticosteroid levels in saliva. Anxiety, as a particular form of psychosocial stress, was measured by the Spielberger Stait‐Trait Anxiety Inventory as well as by a self‐reported daily stress score. In the first part, 23 college juniors taking the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) were studied the month before and the month after the test, and again several months later, and compared at the same time points with 27 controls. In the second part, chronic anxiety levels were assessed in 95 women between 27 and 41 years of age and analyzed in relation to daily levels of salivary ovarian and corticosteroids over one menstrual cycle. The sample sizes are sufficient to allow for confidence in negative results. No statistically significant differences in ovarian or corticosteroid levels were observed whether between the MCAT and control subjects in part one, between the MCAT subjects before and after the MCAT test in part one, or between high and low anxiety subjects in part two. The results indicate that moderate levels of anxiety, whether acute or chronic, are not associated with suppressed ovarian function in healthy women. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc

Anxiety · Chronic stress · Confounding · Psychiatry · Saliva · Stressor · Clinical Psychology · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Menstrual Health and Disorders · Ovarian function and disorders · Physiology · Psychology

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