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Self-Rated Health among Pregnant Women: Associations with Objective Health Indicators, Psychological Functioning, and Serum Inflammatory Markers

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Background

Biobehavioral correlates of self-rated health in pregnancy are largely unknown.

Purpose

The goals of this study were to examine, in pregnant women, associations of self-rated health with (1) demographics, objective health status, health behaviors, and psychological factors, and (2) serum inflammatory markers.

Methods

In the second trimester of pregnancy, 101 women provided a blood sample, completed measures of psychosocial stress, health status, and health behaviors, and received a comprehensive periodontal examination.

Results

The following independently predicted poorer self-rated health: (1) greater psychological stress, (2) greater objective health diagnoses, (3) higher body mass index, and (4) past smoking (versus never smoking). Poorer self-rated health was associated with higher serum interleukin-1β (p = 0.02) and marginally higher macrophage migration inhibitory factor (p = 0.06). These relationships were not fully accounted for by behavioral/psychological factors.

Conclusions

This study provides novel data regarding factors influencing subjective ratings of health and the association of self-rated health with serum inflammatory markers in pregnant women.

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate the contributions of Clinical Research Assistants Kelly Marceau and Rebecca Long to data collection. We would like to thank our study participants and the staff at the OSU Clinical Research Center and Wexner Medical Center Prenatal Clinic.

Role of the Funding Sources

This study was supported by NICHD (HD061644, LMC and HD067670, LMC) and a seed grant from the Ohio State University College of Dentistry (BL and LMC). The project described was supported by the Ohio State University Clinical Research Center, funded by the National Center for Research Resources, Grant UL1RR025755 and is now at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Grant 8UL1TR000090-05. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health. NIH had no further role in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

Conflict of Interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Lisa M. Christian PhD

  2. The Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Room 112, 460 Medical Center Drive, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Lisa M. Christian PhD

  3. Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Lisa M. Christian PhD

  4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Lisa M. Christian PhD & Jay Iams MD

  5. Center for Biostatistics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Kyle Porter MAS

  6. Division of Periodontology, College of Dentistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Binnaz Leblebicioglu DDS, PhD

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  1. Lisa M. Christian PhD
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  2. Jay Iams MD
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  3. Kyle Porter MAS
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  4. Binnaz Leblebicioglu DDS, PhD
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Correspondence to Lisa M. Christian PhD.

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Christian, L.M., Iams, J., Porter, K. et al. Self-Rated Health among Pregnant Women: Associations with Objective Health Indicators, Psychological Functioning, and Serum Inflammatory Markers. ann. behav. med. 46, 295–309 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-013-9521-7

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